Distributed Heat Supply for Distillation Control to Reduce Feed Composition Disturbance Effects. Issue 12 (29th October 2013)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Marangoni, C.; Machado, R. A. F.; Bolzan, A.
• Is Part Of: Chemical engineering & technology. Volume 36:Issue 12(2013:Dec.)
• Page Start: 2071
• Page End: 2079
• Publication Date: 2013-10-29
• Subjects: Chemical engineering -- Periodicals; Chemical processes -- Periodicals; 660.05
• DOI: 10.1002/ceat.201300266
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0930-7516

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="main" xml:lang="en"> <title>Abstract</title> <p>The introduction of heat in stages combined with a reboiler as a distillation control strategy is proposed aiming to reduce the transition time when a feed composition disturbance occurs. This is the most severe type of perturbation and results in long transition times which are economically undesirable. Experiments were carried out in a pilot distillation column with ethanol and water for testing two different control strategies: conventional, i.e., using both last stage and reboiler temperature controllers, and distributed, i.e., conventional strategy plus stage temperature controllers. The results with this operational approach indicated a significant reduction in the time required for the column to stabilize when compared with the conventional approach. The proposed strategy proved to be a viable alternative, enabling faster dynamics and smaller volumes to be processed outside the predefined quality parameters.</p> </abstract>