Economic optimization of a thermal cracker via model predictive control technology

An ethylene plant is one of the largest chemical plants and ethylene is industrially obtained through thermal cracking of hydrocarbons. The cracking furnace is the heart of such an installation and the frequent changes in feed mix, quality and prices; and the demand for its olefin products are influencing directly the production efficiency. Each reactant in the feed produces a certain distribution of products and in order to satisfy the demand constraints at the lowest cost; one needs to optimize the amounts of each reactant.