Abstract :
In this paper, the modelling and control of an industrial acetylene converter are examined. A kinetic
model of the key reactions is proposed, and incorporated in a dynamic model of the converter. Plant data
are used to tune the model, and values for the activation energies are shown to agree with values obtained
from the literature. In addition, the estimated reaction rates are shown to decrease with increasing run
length. A linear, low order model is developed from the full dynamic model. The process is shown to possess
a significant delay time which made control of the outlet conditions difficult. The linear model is used
Io design a controller for the outlet temperature, and it is shown that a model based controller can satisfactorily
control the outlet temperature, while a PID controller cannot.
