An Industrial Application of an Adaptive Algorithm to Overhead Composition Control

An adaptive control strategy has been successfully applied to overhead composition control of a distillation column in a monomer and solvent recycle area of a rubber production facility. The process is time-varying with a significant time delay. The adaptive algorithm is a simple approach made up of a semi-adaptive PI controller and an adaptive Smith predictor. This paper presents results of the application and documents the experience of the authors in developing this technology in-house.