MODULE 1

INCENTIVES FOR PROCESS CONTROL

A chemical plant is an arrangement of processing units (reactors, heat exchangers,
pumps, distillation columns, absorbers, evaporators, tanks, etc.), integrated with each
other in a systematic and rational manner. The plant's overall objective is to convert
certain raw materials (input feedstock) into desired products using available sources of
energy, in the most economic, way.
During its operation, a chemical plant must satisfy several requirements imposed by its
designers and the general technical, economic and social conditions in the presence of
ever-changing external influences (disturbances).
Among such requirements are the following:
- Safety: The safe operation of a chemical process is a primary requirement, for the well
being of the people in the plant and its continued contribution to the economic
development. Thus, the operating pressures, temperatures, concentration of chemicals,
etc. should always be within allowable limits.
For example, if a reactor has been designed to operate at a pressure up to 100 psig,
we should have a control system that will maintain the pressure below this value. As
another example, we should try to avoid the development of explosive mixtures during
the operation of a plant.

Production specifications: The plant should produce the desired amounts and quality of
the final products. For example, we may require the production of two million pounds of
ethylene per day, of 99.5% purity, from an ethylene plant. Therefore, a control system is
needed to ensure that the production level (2 million pounds per day) and the purity
specifications (99.5% ethylene) are satisfied.
- Environmental regulations: Various federal and state laws may specify that the
temperatures, concentrations of chemicals and flow rates of the effluents from a plant be
within certain limits. Such regulations for example exist on the amounts of SO2 that a
plant can eject to the atmosphere, and the quality of water returned to a river or a lake.
- Operational constraints: The various types of equipments used in a chemical plant
have constraints inherent to their operation. Such constraints should be satisfied
throughout the operation of a plant. For example, pumps must maintain a certain net
positive suction head; tanks should not overflow or go dry; distillation columns should
not be flooded: the temperature in acatalytic reactor should not exceed an upper limit
since the catalyst will be destroyed. Control systems are needed to satisfy all these
operational constraints.

Economics: The operation of a plant must conform with the market conditions, i.e. the
availability of raw materials and the demand of the final products. Furthermore, it should
be as economic as possible in its utilization of raw materials, energy, capital and human
labor. Thus, it is required that the operating conditions are controlled at given optimum
levels of minimum operating cost, or maximum profit; etc.

All the above requirements dictate the need for a continuous monitoring of the
operation of a chemical plant and an external intervention (control) to guarantee the
satisfaction of the operational objectives. This is accomplished through a rational
arrangement of various equipment (measuring devices, valves, controllers, computers)
and human intervention (plant designers, plant operators), which constitutes the control
system.

There are three general classes of needs that a control system is called
to satisfy:
- Suppress the influence of external disturbances,
- ensure the 'stability of a chemical process, and
- optimize the performance of a chemical process.