Nonlinear QDMC with State Estimation - Formulation and Application to an "Industrial Challenge" Semi Batch Process

State estimation is incorporated in a version of Quadratic Dynamic Matrix Control (QDMC) that utilizes nonlinear process models. This formulation enables us to deal with open loop unstable systems as illustrated with simple example. The second part of the paper studies the use of this type of control algorithm for the temperature control of a semibatch polymerization reactor. A model and related control requirements for this problem were recently presented in a session on "Industrial Challenge Problems in Process Control."