A Holistic Approach to the Application of Model Predictive Control to Batch Reactors

An advanced process control (APC) system using G2 and AspenTech's DMCplus controller was implemented on Anglo Platinum's Precious metals refinery. The APC was implemented on a batch reactor where an exothermic reaction occurred. The APC controller was able to counter the effects of an integrating process model and long time delay to improve overall stability of the reactor. The APC controller resulted in improved temperature stability, reduction in total batch time and reduction in a regent consumption.