Extremum-seeking control for power consumption minimization in gas liquifiers

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Praxair's industrial gas business is very energy intensive. Any technology that achieves a reduction of Praxair's operational electricity consumption would have a large financial impact. The main process to liquefy large amounts of gaseous Nitrogen is through a series of compressors and turbines coupled with a multiple core Heat Exchanger. The combination of such operations is called a Liquefier. The liquefier process is a very highly energy intensive one; as such, even a small reduction (1%) in the total electricity usage will be very attractive to Praxair and electricity companies. While Praxair is always looking for ways to reduce energy consumption, currently there is no systematic and efficient way to optimize the liquefier operations; as such, it is the belief of Praxair that the research conducted by Dr. Martin Guay, in the area of extremum seeking control, is of high relevance to increasing the efficiency of Praxair Liquefier operations. In liquefier operations, there are multiple variables that can be optimized; however, the largest impact in electricity consumption is associated with a relatively small number of optimization variables. Therefore the determination of the optimal values of such variables, at a given plant production rate and temperature conditions, will minimize the electricity consumption and will lead to optimal operation.