Identification of temperature of a Dicumyl peroxide reaction process in CSTR

Abstract

Many industrial chemical processes involve exothermic (heat generating) reactions whose temperature needs to be controlled for safe operation of the process. If there is any irregularity in coolant flow, the reactant temperature becomes difficult to control. Reaction continues under unsafe condition till all the reactants finish which may lead to hazardous reaction. Dicumyl peroxide reaction is one such process, where the amount of heat generated is high, which may cause thermal explosion and runaway reaction to occur when the heat liberated is not compensated by the jacket coolant temperature or due to contaminants present in the reactor. The present work comprises identification of the process dynamics by nonlinear ARX model and estimation of internal states of the process reaction using estimators like Kalman Filter (KF), Extended Kalman Filter (EKF) and Unscented Kalman Filters (UKF). Results of these estimators are compared and suitable estimator which provides least mismatch between plant and model will be applied to design the control law for efficient control.