A Multi-stage Economic NMPC for the Tennessee Eastman Challenge Process. Issue 2 (2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Tătulea-Codrean, Alexandru; Fischer, Jonas; Engell, Sebastian
• Is Part Of: IFAC-PapersOnLine. Volume 53:Issue 2(2020)
• Page Start: 6069
• Page End: 6075
• Publication Date: 2020
• Subjects: robust NMPC -- economics optimizing control -- multi-stage optimization -- plant-wide control -- Tennessee Eastman Challenge Problem; Automatic control -- Periodicals; 629.805
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ifacol.2020.12.1678
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2405-8963

Abstract

Abstract: This paper addresses the design and implementation of a robust nonlinear model predictive control (NMPC) scheme for a benchmark plant-wide control problem. The focus of our research is on the performance of direct optimizing control for a complex large-scale process which is subject to plant-model mismatch and external disturbances. As a benchmark case for control and monitoring applications, the Tennessee Eastman Challenge (TEC) process has been widely employed in many publications. We present a first NMPC implementation for this where only economics criteria are used for the control of the process. The results obtained demonstrate the viability of plant-wide economics optimizing NMPC. We also address the issue of robustness against model uncertainties and employ multi-stage NMPC to tackle these. Different possible multi-stage NMPC implementations are discussed and the trade-offs between economic performance and robustness are highlighted.