Towards the systematic design of actuation for process systems

Currently systematic design of actuation (operational degrees of freedom) for process systems is not possible because (i) the required domain knowledge has not been identified and (ii) it is unclear how to explore the relation between actuation and operational improvement. This paper proposes geometry and flux equations as the required domain knowledge. It is explained that the relation between actuation and operational improvement should be explored in an optimal control setting. By means of an example (distillation) it is illustrated that a spatial actuation extension may result in considerable operational improvement.