Closed-loop control of physical properties in an industrial polymerization process

Control of polypropylene stereospecificity is difficult because of the complex and nonlinear kinetics. Recent advances in instrumentation provide an online measurement, which can be exploited for improved product quality through closed-loop control. Linear and nonlinear model predictive controllers (MPG) are developed and compared with the traditional SPC. Plant's results demonstrate the improvement gained from linear MPG, while simulation results show potential improvement from nonlinear MPG, development of which is in progress.