A New Method to Solve Robust Data Reconciliation in Nonlinear Process1

Data reconciliation is an effective technique for providing accurate and consistent value for chemical process. However, the presence of gross errors can severely bias the reconciled results. Robust estimators can significantly reduce the effect of gross errors and yield less-biased results. In this article, a new method is proposed to solve the robust data reconciliation problem of nonlinear chemical process. By using several technologies including linearization method, penalty function, virtual observation equation, and equivalent weights method, the robust data reconciliation problem can be transformed into least squares estimator problem which leads to the convenience in computation. Simulation results in a nonlinear chemical process demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed method.