Hierarchical Control Structure for a Reactor/Separator Process with Recycle

A hierarchical control structure which realizes an economically near-optimal operation and small dynamic interaction between subunits is proposed for a reactor/separator system with recycle. The lower level regulatory control layer is designed so that dynamic interaction between subunits is made small. The higher level coordination control layer is designed to realize self-optimizing control and implemented based on the time-scale separation principle. Design procedure is addressed and control performance is compared with that of a conventional structure through simulations