Near Infrared spectroscopy is used to control a polymerization reactor in order to produce solution polymers with well-defined molecular weight. A model for the monitoring of both the average polymer molecular weight, and the concentration of monomer in the reactor is developed with the partial least-squares calibration technique applied to the NIR spectra.On the basis of a process model, a nonlinear input-output linearizing geometric approach is then applied to control the polymer molecular weight by manipulating the inlet flow rate of the monomer. The control strategy is then validated on-line during the solution polymerization of acrylic acid in an industrial pilot scale reactor.
A nonlinear geometric control is used to control the concentration of the monomer in solution
polymerization processes. The concentration of the monomer is an important parameter in terms
of the final product quality, process productivity, and security. The process is monitored using
a near-infrared spectrometer that was calibrated using the partial least-squares optimization
technique to estimate the concentration of the monomer in the reactor. The control strategy
makes use of a high gain observer to estimate the reaction rate necessary in the control loop.
The controller was implemented on an industrial pilot reactor during the solution polymerization
of acrylic acid.
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