Two-point cascade control of binary distillation columns

In this work the problem of designing a two-point (temperature-composition) linear cascade controller for binary distillation columns is addressed within a nonlinear robust constructive control framework yielding: the underlying solvability conditions with physical meaning, a systematic construction, and a robust stability criterion coupled with a simple tuning scheme. The primary controller is dynamic and decentralized, and the secondary MIMO controller is the composition of an inventory-type MIMO static controller with a decentralized dynamic controller. The proposed approach is illustrated with numerical simulations, showing a better performance than the existing linear and nonlinear cascade controllers.