U.S. - Argentina Cooperative Research: Studies on the Robust Control of Chemical Processes

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This award supports cooperative research in chemical process control to be conducted by Ahmet Palazoglu of the University of California at Davis and Jose Ramagnoli of the Chemical Engineering Pilot Plant of CONICET in Bahia Blanca, Argentina. The primary object of this collaborative effort is to develop design and analysis methods for robust process control systems. With increasing demands on product quality, contraints on process economics and stringent environmental regulations, automatic control has undeniably become and integral pat of chemical process operations. However, reliable under various operating regimes and demand that the controllers respond to such variations without loss of performance or stability characteristics. The methods developed through this collaboration will be tested on various applications. The U. S. investigators have already investigated a high purity distillation column model to demonstrate the uncertainty characterization by various methods. The dynamic model of double effect high purity column has also been developed and its behavior has been tested under multi-loop PI control. The research team in Argentina has studied the singular value and the structured singular value concepts in characterizing model uncertainty for chemical processes. These two groups have complementary expertise in the area of robust control of linear and nonlinear process. Demonstrated by a number of publications, the two linear process. Demonstrated by a number of publications, the two groups have investigated the use of various representations of the model/plant mismatch and arrived at design and analysis methods. The UC Davis group emphasizes the use of mag- nitude/phase information as well as its extensions to highly structured cases. In terms of applications, the UC Davis group developed rigorous dynamic models of high purity distillation systems while the Argentines work with triple effect evaporators and fixed-bed reactors, including pilot plant studies. Development of robust control strategies ultimately benefits processing industries in both countries by assisting them to operate process units with more confidence under tight control situations.