Time-Optimal Control and Parameter Estimation of Diafiltration Processes in the Presence of Membrane Fouling

This paper deals with the time-optimal operation and parameter estimation problem of a general diafiltration process in the presence of fouling. Fouling stands for one of the dominant problems in the membrane separation processes. The dynamic behavior of the fouled membrane is described by a general fouling model taken from literature. An Extended Kalman filter is proposed for the recursive estimation of unknown parameters in the fouling model. A model-based optimal nonlinear controller, whose control law is obtained explicitly via Pontryagin’s minimum principle, is coupled with the parameter estimation and subsequently applied in a simulation case study to show benefits of the proposed approach.