A survey of advanced control of polymerization reactors

Abstract

A survey of the most recent papers regarding the advanced control of polymerization reactors is carried out. Special attention is focused on optimal control theory, nonlinear control, adaptive control, and predictive control. A review is also performed in related areas, such as optimization and state estimation in polymerization systems. I t is shown that there is a huge gap between industry and research practices. Actual implementation of advanced control theory in the polymerization area requires the improvement of measurement and state estimation techniques.

A Comparison of Variational and Genetic Algorithm Performances in the Optimization of a Polymerization Process

“…The mathematical model of the process in the plugflow tubular reactor hypothesis includes the following Eqs. (1)(2)(3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9) [14,15]:…”

“…The problems concerning the optimization of chemical reactors can be classified into several categories, including selection of the best steady-state control settings (steady-state optimization), selection of the best control strategy that leads the system from certain initial conditions to final specified conditions (optimal servo control) and selection of the best control strategy that reduces the effect of undesirable disturbances of the process conditions (optimal regulatory control) [1]. The present study can be included in the second category of problems.…”

Optimization of batch solution polymerizations: Simulation studies using an inhibitor and a chain-transfer agent

“…A survey on the tion of polymerization reactors is the one by Caadvanced control of polymerization systems was valcanti and Pinto. 3 In investigating plant data, presented recently by Embiruçu et al 1 these authors observed that optimum operation Among the most frequent control variables, one policies obtained by adding either inhibitors or may cite the reactor temperature profile and the chain-transfer agents to the reaction environment initiator feed rate. Other common choices are were very similar.…”

Control of Polymer Quality in Gas Phase Polyethylene Reactors Using Feed Flow Rates

“…Therefore, it is important to monitor and control MWD during the industrial production of polymers. A significant amount of research has been done in the area of control, monitoring and modelling of polymerization reactors; excellent reviews have been given by several researchers [1][2][3][4]. A careful study of previous works, with focus on the description of polymer MWD, results in the following conclusions:…”