Abstract
Closed loop computer control of an ethylene column has been shown to save $350/day in improved ethylene recovery and $150/day in reduced energy consumption. These savings are achieved through material balance optimization and energy balance optimization. The purpose of this paper is to describe how the material balance (hard target) and energy balance (soft target) control points are implemented. The paper covers the following topics: A Brief Review of Distillation, A Summary of Distillation Optimization, Quality Control (Hard Target), Safety (Soft Target), and Feed Forward - Interactive Control. Both a general and a specific example are used. The specific example is an actual ethylene column.
Matthews, S. A. (1980). Practical Application of Distillation Column Energy Control Systems. Energy Systems Laboratory (http://esl.tamu.edu); Texas A&M University (http://www.tamu.edu). Available electronically from
https : / /hdl .handle .net /1969 .1 /93940.