FTC STRATEGIES IN MODEL PREDICTIVE CONTROL OF A DEAROMATISATION PROCESS

The behaviour of an industrial dearomatisation process operated under model predictive control (MPC) is studied in the presence of incipient faults. Different automatic FTC strategies are studied utilising both a dynamic chemical engineering process simulator and the process MPC. The focus has been on FTC strategy directionality resulting from incipient faults like drifting, and in management of fault consequence risks like loss of production. The directionality, early detection, and detection reliability aspects in applying appropriate realtime FTC strategies are particularly pronounced in this process and economy environment. It is shown, that the inherent accommodation properties and model information in the studied MPC can readily be exploited as a vehicle to realise the types of FTC strategies required by the users.