PLC-based control systems for industrial production of fuel alcohol

We discuss the application of programmable logic controllers (PLCs) in the process monitoring and control for fuel alcohol production. The PLCs are mainly utilized for collecting process data as well as realizing auto-tuning PID and sequence control strategies. In addition, WinCC configuration software with a human-machine interface (HMI) is used to monitor the dynamical industrial process. Both software- and hardware-based implementations of our system are also described in detail.