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Design of control
system for complete
plants

The

TEAM

113CH0080 SAI SWAROOP MANDAL

113CH0081 SANJUKTA NAYAK

113CH0082 SIDHARTHA NAYAK

113CH0083 VAIBHAV NAYAK

113CH0084 ABHISHEK PADHY

113CH0086 SIDHANT PATRA

113CH0087 ANKIT PATNAIK

113CH0088 JAYADEV PRADHAN

113CH0089 BIBHU PRASAD

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Designing control systems for complete chemical plants is the ultimate

goal of a control designer. The problem associated with these situations is
quite large and complex. It requires or involves large number of
theoretical and practical considerations such as quality of controlled
response; stability; the safety of the operating plant; the reliability of
control system; the range of control system and ease of startup,
shutdown, or changeover; the ease of operation and the cost of the
control system.
As studied from the previous chapters of process control the various
equations which we simplify are mostly linear in nature. The difficulties
aggravated by the fact that chemical process are largely non-linear,
imprecisely known, multivariable systems with many interactions.
The measurements and manipulations are limited to relatively small
number of variables, while control objectives may not be clearly stated or
even known at the beginning of the control system design.

Process Design and Process Control

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Traditionally, one undertakes the design of the control system for a

chemical plant only after a process flowsheet has been synthesized
and designed or even constructed to a significant detail. This allows
the control designer to know
1.

What units are in the plant and their sizes?

2.

How they are interconnected?

3.

The range of operating conditions.

4.

Possible disturbances, available measurements and manipulation.

5.

What problem may arise during startup and shutdown of the plant?

The above information are crucial and of course necessary to design

an effective control system for plant.

What if the design of plant is finalized?

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In these cases the controller is forced to work with a largely specified

system.
The task is to design a control system that ensures satisfactory
operation of the whole plant. However, this may not always be
possible because of following reasons
1.

The process doesnt possess a sufficient no of manipulated

variables.

2.

Very strong interactions exist between the processing units.

3.

It is not possible to cope up with all external disturbances.

4.

The time lag(dead time) may be significant or the process gains

may be too high or too low.

5.

And if the process is inherently unstable.

From the previous points discussed, it is evidently clear that a certain degree of
coordination and cooperation between process engineers and control designers
is required.
Ideally, process designers should have a good exposure in process control
problems and process control designers should have a good exposure
understanding of process design aspects. It is close and intricate interplay
between design and control that makes a chemical engineer the most suitable
person to undertake the design of a control system for chemical plant.
When the chemical process were simpler, with very few interactions with units,
mostly serial in architecture and without strong requirements of operational
optimality, the design of control system was much simpler. In situations of real lives
now, the picture is completely different. Rising costs in energy and raw materials,
strong competition in market, improved safety and pollution standards and many
more such constraints have forced designers to construct complex plants that are
highly integrated, with many and strong interactions among the processing units.

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Example 1: Effect of intermediate storage tanks on process control

Referring to above diagram the following statements are given:

Consider the following process where the reactor effluent stream is
condensed and stored in large tank. Material from the tank is fed to
distillation column where desired product is separated from unreacted
reactant, which flows back to second storage tank before it is again fed
back to the reactor. The two intermediate storage tanks decouple the two
processing units (i.e. reactor and distillation column).
Thus any variations in the composition, temperature or flow of the reactors
effluent stream are damped out in tank 1and dont disturb operation of
the column. Similarly, tank 2 absorbs any changes in the flow or the
composition of columns bottom product, leaving the operation of the
reactor undisturbed. The decoupling between reactor and column allows
the control designer to synthesize a control system for each unit
independently.
There are several drawbacks in design which includes reactor effluent is
cooled and then it is heated up again, the two intermediate storage tanks
increase significantly the fixed capital expenditure.

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Example 2: Effect of feed effluent heat exchange on reactor control

Continued

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Example: Poor process designs leading to control problems.

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Continued Example

Hydroealkylation of Toluene plant to

produce benzene : A Case Study

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Material Balance control for the Hydroealkylation plant:

The purpose of the control system for hydroealkylation plant is to
ensure production of benzene with
1.

The desired quality(99.9% by mole)

2.

The desired rate

The product quality must meet with the desired specifications;

otherwise it must be reprocessed or wasted. The part of control system
which ensures that the product quality is maintained at the desired
levels is known as product quality control.
Although a plant is usually designed for nominal production rate, a
design tolerance is always incorporated because the market
conditions may require an increase or decrease in production level.
This is known as material balance control, because its purpose is to
direct the control action in such a way as to make the inflows equal to
the outflows and achieve a new steady state material balance for the
plant.

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Material Balance controllers for the Hydroealkylation Plant

Product quality control for the Hydroealkylation plant

The material balance control system is designed for a single purpose: to adjust
the plants production rate at the level dictated by the management and keep it
at this level. In other words the material balance control is not designed to
maintain the operating variables in certain units at constant values (set points)
against the changes in various disturbances.
The basic purpose of additional control system is to ensure the desired product
quality. This can be accomplished by
1.

Regulating the operation of benzene column against disturbances changes

entering the column.

2.

Cancelling the effects of disturbances changes in upstream units which when

left unattended will propagate and affect product quality.

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Benzene Column control

Continued

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Continued

Comments on the control of design for

complete plants

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Continued:

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The introduction of digital computers for process control has allowed the
implementation of optimizing control strategies in chemical plants. The usual
mode of implementation is that of supervisory control. Fig 25.11(b) shows
supervisory control implementation of an optimizing control strategy for the
simple process of 25.11(a).
Optimizing control is used extensively today and its future looks even more
promising. It is particularly beneficial for large plants where even small
improvements in the operating cost are multiplied by large production
throughputs, thus leading to significant economic savings on yearly basis.
Normally there will be tremendous number of alternative control systems for a
complete plant. Initially the control designer uses for empirical arguments to
eliminate the bad ones. Progressively he or she uses more and more complex
analysis for further screening and elimination of alternatives. The designer may
need to resort to steady state or dynamic simulation of the plant and its
controllers in order to evaluate the alternative control systems.

THANK YOU

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