(346a) Integrated Process Design and Control: Novel Applications in Energy and Environment

Integrated Process
Design and Control: novel applications in energy and environment

Sharifzadeh Mahdi[1] , Thornhill Nina F., Shah
Nilay.

Centre for process Systems Engineering (CPSE),
Imperial College London.

Process design and
control share important decisions. When the process specifications are decided
there is little room left to improve control performances. Therefore, it is
highly recommended that process design and control design should be considered
simultaneously. A systematic framework is needed to automatically generate
alternative design and control solutions and screen them based on various competing/conflicting economic and control objectives. Such a
systematic framework conforms to mixed integer optimization programming under
uncertainty.

The challenge is that
the integrated approach often leads to large-scale highly-combinatorial mathematical
formulations which pose significant challenge for current optimization
technology. This presentation provides an overview of our recent endeavours [1-8]
at Centre for Process Systems Engineering (CPSE), Imperial College London, for
research into integrated design and control of industrial processes. The
research objective is to reduce the problem complexity and apply the
methodology to challenging problems with energy and environmental applications.

We introduce a
methodology for complexity reduction from Integrated Process Design and Control
(IPDC) based on the notion of perfect control and process model inversion.
Here, the treatment is based on the property that the inverse solution of
process model can be used for evaluating the best achievable control
performance. We argue that the resulting optimization framework benefits from
several desirable properties. Firstly, the complexities associated with control
parameterization are disentangled from the problem formulation. Secondly,
simultaneous optimization of the control structure and process economy results
is self-optimizing properties. Finally and most importantly, the steady-state
and dynamic formulations of the so-called inversely controlled process model
(ICPM) ensure steady-state operability and functional controllability,
respectively.

We demonstrate the
application of the proposed methodology using several novel applications
including integrated design and control of two-series heat-integrated reactors
[2], an ETBE reactive distillation [3], retrofitting an existing NGCC power
plant using a solvent-based capture process [5], a liquefied natural gas (LNG) production plant [6], a micro-reactor for autothermal
reforming of methanol [7] and integrated operation of renewable energy systems
[8]. The features of interest include flexible operation of aforementioned
processes under uncertain scenarios such as external disturbances or load
reduction. Furthermore, the applied optimization solution algorithms to implement
the proposed methodology are elaborated and discussed.      

References

[1] Sharifzadeh M^*, (2013). Integration of process design and
control: a review, Chemical Engineering Research and Design, 91 (12),
2515?2549 (Link).

[2] Sharifzadeh M^*, Thornhill NF, (2013). Integrated design and control
using a dynamic inversely controlled process model. Computers &
Chemical Engineering, 48, 121?134. (Link)

[3] Sharifzadeh M^*, (2013). Implementation of an inversely controlled process model for
integrated design and control of an ETBE reactive distillation, Chemical
Engineering Science. 92, 21?39. (Link)

[4] Sharifzadeh M^*, Thornhill NF,
(2012).Optimal selection of control structures using a steady-state inversely
controlled process model. Computers & Chemical Engineering, 38 (5),
126?138. (Link)

[5] Sharifzadeh
M^*,
Shah, N, (2015). Integrated retrofit and operation of solvent-based capture
plants and natural gas combined cycle (NGCC) power plants: solvent performance
comparison at industrial scale (invited paper, under review at AIChE Journal)

[6] Sharifzadeh
M^*,
Park J, Shah N, (2015). Integrated design and operation of liquefied natural
gas plants: a case study, (in preparation).

[7] Sharifzadeh
M^*,
Sempou A, Shah N, (2015). Integrated design and operation of intensified
processes: autothermal reforming of methanol using micro-reactors, (in
preparation).

[8] Sharifzadeh
M^*,
Lubiano H, Shah N, (2015). Integrated design and operation of renewable energy
systems under variable electricity load scenarios, (in preparation).