Improvement in Controller Performance for Distillation Column Using IMC Technique

Distillation columns are the key units of several chemical refineries. It splits-up the constituents of liquid mixtures. Due to differences in volatilities, the vaporization of more volatile component takes place much quickly whereas the less volatile component remains behind in the solution. In this research article, control systems are designed for the considered transfer function model of the distillation column unit. Controllers are developed here using three different approaches viz. Ziegler-Nichols (Z-N) based PI controller, Fuzzy controller, and IMC controller, in MATLAB.