Decoupling Control of a Binary Distillation Column with Measurement Noise

Control of a binary distillation column is a challenging task due to the complex dynamics, high nonlinearity and coupling between control loops. To end this, a dynamic decoupling control strategy, based on active disturbance rejection control, is proposed for a binary distillation column in this paper. Main goal of the controller is to control top and bottom product composition of light component. With the proposed method, it is shown that the column system is readily decoupled by using the extended state observer to estimate and reject the effects of both interaction between the loops and external disturbances. Considering measurement noise, a tracking differentiator is designed as a output filter. Finally, simulation results show good control performance in the presence of system coupling, unknown disturbances and measurement noise.