Economic Model Predictive Control: Handling Valve Actuator Dynamics and Process Equipment Considerations

Economic Model Predictive Control (EMPC) is a control strategy that moves process operation away from the steady-state paradigm toward a potentially time-varying operating strategy to improve process profitability. The EMPC literature is replete with evidence that this new paradigm may enhance process profits when a model of the chemical process provides a sufficiently accurate representation of the process dynamics. Systems using EMPC often neglect the dynamics associated with equipment and are often neglected when modeling a chemical process. Recent studies have shown they can significantly impact the effectiveness of an EMPC system. Concentrating on valve behavior in a chemical process, this monograph develops insights into the manner in which equipment behavior should impact the design process for EMPC and to provide a perspective on a number of open research topics in this direction. Written in tutorial style, this monograph provides the reader with a full literature review of the topic and demonstrates how these techniques can be adopted in a practical system.