Generalized predictive control of optimal temperature profiles in a polystyrene polymerization reactor

The performance of generalized predictive control (GPC) was examined when it was applied to the temperature of a free radical solution polymerization of styrene in a jacketed batch reactor. The optimal temperature policies were obtained at different initiator concentrations by applying the optimal control theory to the relevant polymerization reactor. The use of polynomial ARIMAX model related with reactor temperature and heat input was emphasised. Model parameters were determined by using Kalman, Bierman and Levenberg Marquardt algorithms. A pseudo random binary sequence (PRBS) signal was employed to operate the system. The GPC control method was based on ARIMAX model. The performance of the GPC method was compared with that of the PID controller.