Real-time control/scheduling for multi-purpose batch plants

The current trend in the chemical process industry is to operate flexible multi-purpose batch plants. This configuration is capable of manufacturing a variety of chemical products using different combinations of available process resources. Flexible and dynamic control and scheduling are critical control activities necessary to realize agile manufacturing in a multi-purpose batch plant. In this paper, the real-time control/scheduling of a multi-purpose batch chemical plant is considered. A real-time control and scheduling approach, based on predictive control and situation calculus, is developed. Simulation results for the mean flow time using the proposed approach are compared with results obtained using a conventional dispatching rule. Statistical analysis shows that the performance of the proposed approach is preferred for the experimental plant.