ARTICLE

pubs.acs.org/IECR

Optimal Feed Point Design and Regulation of a Novel Plate Reactor

Yingying Chen and Karlene A. Hoo*
Chemical Engineering, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas 79409-3121, United States

ABSTRACT: This work uses an open-loop analysis of a novel plate reactor to determine the optimum number of feed points and
their locations to achieve maximum conversion. Once the open-loop design is optimized, a control system is designed to achieve
maximum conversion of the reactants by regulating the reactor temperature using discrete proportional-integral-derivative (PID)
controllers. It was found that the optimum number of feed points is two, equidistantly spaced from each other, and also that a PID
controller design based on the internal model control method gives the best closed-loop performance.

INTRODUCTION to implement simple and complex control strategies. There

The safe operation of exothermic chemical reactions re-
quires that the released heat be managed in a timely fashion.
Dilution of the reactants is a common approach to guarantee
the released heat is within the heat transfer capability of the
reactor. However, there are some limitations. First, as the
concentration of the reactants is reduced, so will the pro-
duction rate be reduced, and second, the products must be
separated from the solvent and the solvent must be recovered.
These additional processes add to the capital and operational
costs of the total system.
Haugwitz and co-workers1,2 studied a particular novel plate
reactor system that combines the high heat transfer capabil-
ities of a plate heat exchanger and distributed cooling. Figure 1
illustrates the ow scheme of a three-plate conguration of
this reactor type.2 The process uid enters at the top of the
rst reactor plate, and the cooling water exits at the upper left.
Inserts placed in the path of the owing uids are designed to
achieve uniform mixing and ensure good heat transfer capa-
city. Note that each reactor plate has its own cooling unit
located adjacent to it. The number of plates in the reactor can
be adjusted to provide the residence time appropriate for the
chosen chemical reactions.
Figure 2 shows schematics of the inside of the plate reactor.2 In
the left panel each row of the reactor plate is divided into several
cells. The primary reactant (A) enters the reactor at the main feed
point; other reactants can enter at other feed locations. The
reactants are forced by inserts (see right panel) to ow in a
horizontal fashion. A side view of the plate reactor illustrating the
reactor surrounded on either side by the cooling plates is in the
middle panel.
A distributed feed is one design that may aid in managing the
released heat.3 In their work, Haugwitz and co-workers1,2
assumed two feed points. Their work did not verify how
they arrived at the number and location of the feed points.
Determination of the optimum number of feed points and
determination of their locations are primary objectives of
this study.
Regulation of the reactor temperature will be achieved
using digital proportional-integral-derivative (PID) feedback
controllers. The use of digital controllers is motivated by
common practice in the chemical industries of using computers
are numerous methods on how to tune a three-parameter PID
controller. Here, the PID design rules associated with the
biggest log modulus (BLT),4 the approximate M-constrained
integral gain optimization (AMIGO),5 and the internal model
control (IMC)6 are used and their closed-loop performances
compared.
This work is organized as follows. The next section formally
introduces the novel plate reactor and provides an open-loop
analysis of the reactor design to determine the optimal number of
feed points and their locations. This is followed by a brief
overview of the aforementioned PID design methods and the
controller designs to regulate the reactor temperature. Their
closed-loop performances are compared on the basis of multiple
performance criteria. Finally, a summary of the important con-
tributions of this work is provided along with some future
directions.
PLATE REACTOR MODEL
Chemical reaction. The oxidation of sodium thiosulfate
(Na2S2O3) by hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) to produce sodium
trithionate (Na2S3O6) is the example exothermic chemical
reaction used to design the plate reactor:2
2Na2 S2 O3 4H2 O2 f Na2 S3 O6 Na2 SO4 4H2 O
Sodium trithionate belongs to the class of polythionates that are
used in the production of sulfur-based polyamides.7 The above
chemical reaction is second order and occurs in the liquid phase.
The reaction rate can be described by an Arrhenius expression:


Ea
r k0 exp  CA CB 1
RTr
where k0 is the pre-exponential coefficient, Ea is the activation
energy, R is the universal gas constant, Tr is the reactor
temperature, and CA and CB are the concentrations of Na2S2O3
and H2O2, respectively.
Received: August 28, 2011
Accepted: December 13, 2011
Revised: December 2, 2011
Published: January 04, 2012

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Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research ARTICLE

Figure 1. Flow scheme of a three-plate reactor design.2

Figure 2. Left: Schematic of a few rows of a reactor plate. The uid enters at the top; the small arrows indicate the ow direction. Y1 and Y2 mark the
locations of temperature sensors. Middle: A side view of the plate reactor. Right: A drawing of the ow inserts and the ow channels.1

Table 1 lists the parameters and variables associated with this concentrations form a system of nonlinear partial differential
process. Crucial issues in the design of the plate reactor are the equations (NLPDEs):2
number and locations of the distributed feed points that give the
optimal conversion. In the example, H2O2 is the component to
be distributed at the multiple feed points and the concentration Tr 2 Tr Tr 4h H
De  vr  Tr  Tw r
of Na2S2O3 at the reactor exit is the criterion used to determine t z 2 z dr Fr cp Fr cp
the optimal conversion. Tw 2 Tw Tw 4h
Computational Model. In the study by Haugwitz2 a one- De  vw Tr  Tw
t z 2 z dw Fw cp
dimensional (1D) model was sufficient to represent the domi- CA 2 CA CA
nant characteristics of the plate reactor because the cross- Dm  vr  2r 2
sectional area is much smaller than the channel length. In other t z 2 z
CB CB
2
CB
words, the cross-sectional gradients of temperature and concen- Dm  vr  4r
tration are negligible when compared to the gradients along the t z 2 z
reactor length. The cooling plate component of the reactor is CC CC
2
CC
Dm  vr r
approximated as a cooling jacket with a diameter (dw) that t z 2 z
surrounds the reactor. Because the flow rate of the reactants is
assumed to be instantaneous, pressure dynamics are neglected.2 Here r (mol/m3 3 s) represents the reaction rate defined in eq 1,
The 1D model is derived from appropriate mass and energy t is time, z is the spatial coordinate along the length of the reactor,
balances. The constitutive equations that describe the reactor Tr (C) is the reactor temperature, Tw (C) is the cooling water
and cooling water temperatures and the reactant and product temperature, CA (mol/m3) is the concentration of Na2S2O3, CB
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Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research ARTICLE

Table 1. Parameters and Variables for the Reaction Process2

denition symbol value

universal gas constant R 8.314 J/(mol 3 K)

pre-exponential coecient k0 2  107 m3/(mol 3 s)
activation energy Ea 68.200 kJ/mol
Na2S2O3 heat of reaction H 1.172 MJ/mol
ow velocity of reactor uid vr 0.27 m/s
ow velocity of cooling water vw 14.0 m/s
heat transfer coecient h 3000 W/(m2 3 K)
diameter of plug ow reactor dr 0.0081 m
diameter of cooling jacket dw 0.0129 m
density of reactor uid Fr 1000 kg/m3
density of cooling water Fw 1000 kg/m3
reactor uid heat capacity cp 4180 J/(kg 3 K)
feed Na2S2O3 concentration CA,feed 1470 mol/m3
feed H2O2 concentration CB,feed 11 256 mol/m3
Na2S2O3 feed rate qA,feed 1.11  105 m3/s Figure 3. One-feed-point design: reactor and cooling water tempera-
H2O2 feed rate qB,feed 2.78  106 m3/s
tures and conversion of Na2S2O3 along the reactor length. O, Tr; /, Tw,
3, Na2S2O3 conversion.
cooling water ow rate qw 1  103 m3/s
total reactor volume Vr,tot 4.17  104 m3
total cooling water volume Vw,tot 5.8  104 m3
Na2S2O3 feed temperature TA,feed 1580 C
H2O2 feed temperature TB,feed 20 C
cooling water inlet temperature Tcool 1580 C

(mol/m3) is the concentration of H2O2, and CC (mol/m3) is the

concentration of Na2S3O6.

DETERMINATION OF THE NUMBER OF FEED POINTS

It is well-known that a plug ow reactor (PFR) can be
Figure 4. Illustration of a two-feed-point design.1
represented by several continuous stirred-tank reactors (CSTRs)
in series.3 Whereas the operation of the PFR gives rise to a system
of PDEs, that of the CSTR can be described adequately by a where
system of ordinary dierential equations (ODEs). A system of

Ea
PDEs can be transformed into a system of ODEs by discretization rk k0 exp  CA k CB k
along the spatial coordinates using, for example, a nite volume RTr k
method.8
For the kth volume, where k = 1, ..., n and n is the total number The initial condition occurs at k  1 = 0 and n = 300. Greater
of volumes, the equations for energy and mass conservation are numerical accuracy may be obtained by using a larger value of n;
given by eqs 3: however, the computing time may increase signicantly.
One-Feed-Point Design. A one-feed-point design usually
dTr k qr k  1 Tr k  1  qr k Tr k involves introducing the feed at the entrance of the reactor.
Any other one-feed-point location means that the length of the
dt Vr reactor before the feed point serves no useful purpose. In the one-
hA H feed-point case, all reactants are mixed at the inlet to the reactor.
 Tr k  Tw k rk In the example case, because the reaction rate is rapid, the
Fr cp Vr Fr cp
reactants are almost consumed within the first 10% of the length
dTw k qw k  1 Tw k  1  qw k Tw k of the reactor. However, the designed cooling water capacity

dt Vw cannot remove the released heat and safe operations will be
hA compromised. Consequently, even though the conversion is
Tr k  Tw k 99.75%, a very high reactor temperature is reached (safe opera-
Fw cp Vw
tions require that Tr e 90 C1). Figure 3 shows the reactor and
dCA k qr k  1 CA k  1  qr k CA k cooling water temperatures and the conversion of Na2S2O3 along
 2rk
dt Vr the length of the reactor.
dCB k qr k  1 CB k  1  qr k CB k Two-Feed-Point Design. Consider two feed locations, one at
 4rk the entrance and the other at the midpoint of the reactor length.
dt Vr
Without loss of generality, let the component flow rate be
dCC k qr k  1 CC k  1  qr k CC k
rk 3 identical at either location (see Figure 4). This two-feed-point
dt Vr design can be analyzed by considering the design as that of two
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Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research
Figure 5. Two-feed-point design. O, Tr; /, Tw; 3, Na2S2O3 conversion. Left: Entrance and 1/2 the reactor length. Right: Entrance and 1/3 the reactor
length.
Figure 6. Three-feed-point design: entrance, 1/3 the reactor length, and 2/3 the reactor length. O, Tr; /, Tw; 3, Na2S2O3 conversion. Left: Equal feed
rates. Right: Design to achieve the same maximum temperature, 63.5 C.
reactors in series. The heat of reaction is distributed between the
two reactors, and the designed cooling water capacity must
permit Tr e 90 C. The final conversion of Na2S2O3 achieved
with this design is 96.15%. The left panel of Figure 5 shows the
reactor and cooling water temperatures and conversion of
Na2S2O3 along the reactor length.
If, instead, the design is altered such that the second feed point
is located at 1/3 the reactor length, the conversion achieved is
98.95% (see right panel of Figure 5). Since the second feed point
is located nearer the rst one (cf. second feed point at 1/2 the
reactor length), there is not sucient cooling capacity and
residence time to remove the heat of reaction generated at the
rst feed point. The reactor temperature (125 C) measured
after the second feed location is found to exceed 90 C by
almost 40%.
Consider another two-feed-point design where the second
feed point is located further from the entrance of the reactor, in
this case 2/3 the reactor length. For this design, the temperature
863
ARTICLE
(70 C) measured after the second feed point is less than 90 C
by 22%. Comparing the designs (not shown) with one feed at the
entrance and the other at either 2/3 or 1/2 the length of the
reactor, the nal conversion in the former is found to be 5% less.
Three-Feed-Point Design. Consider three feed points
equally spaced: entrance, 1/3 the length of the reactor, and
2/3 the length of the reactor. If the feed rate is the same at each
feed point, then the highest reactor temperature is achieved
after the second feed point, as shown in the left panel of
Figure 6. The amount of heat generated in the first reactor
section is less compared to the one- and two-feed-point designs
due to the smaller feed rate, shorter residence time, and
sufficient cooling capacity to remove the heat of reaction.
Between the second and third feed points the heat of reaction
generated is such that the designed cooling capacity is insuffi-
cient; thus, Tr > 90 C. The behavior in the final third of the
reactor is similar to that in the first third of the reactor. The final
conversion is 85.35%.
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Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research
If the three-feed-point design is such that the location of the
feed points gives the same maximum reactor temperature in each
section, i.e., between any two consecutive feed points, then the
required feed rates are 40.42, 18.33, and 41.25%, respectively.
The highest temperature achieved is 63.5 C with a conversion of
89.25% (right graph of Figure 6).
The number of feed points, their locations, and their feed rates
could be selected to achieve the highest allowable (near 90 C)
reactor temperature in each reactor section with the aim of
maximizing conversion (see Figure 7). If the second and third
feed points are located at 20 and 42% of the length of the reactor
and the feed rates from feed point 1 to feed point 3 are 50, 16.67,
and 33.33%, the conversion achieved is 95.88%.
A reactor design with four feed points also was studied.9
Similar to the case of a reactor design with three feed points, the
conversion was nearly the same only when the maximum reactor
temperature in the four reactor sections was 90 C. From the
Figure 7. Three-feed-point design: entrance, 20% of the reactor length,
and 42% of the reactor length. Maximum conversion is 95.88%. O, Tr; /,
Tw; 3, Na2S2O3 conversion.
Figure 8. Left: Conversion for dierent numbers of equally spaced feed points. Right: Accumulated dierence between Tj,max and T* for the dierent
numbers of feed points.
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ARTICLE
above dierent cases, it was found that when the maximum
reactor temperature of each section is close to the temperature
constraint the achievable conversion is about 96% regardless of
how many feed points are selected. However, more feed points
mean a more costly design. A two-feed-point reactor design, with
the entrance and midpoint of the reactor length and with the
same feed rate, appears to be the best choice from this iterative
investigation.
Optimizing the Feed-Point Locations. According to the
above analysis, when the highest reactor temperature achieved
in each reactor section (as delineated by the number of feed
points) is close to the reaction temperature constraint, a high
conversion is possible. To optimize the location, assume equally
spaced feed points. The accumulated difference between the
maximum temperature in each reactor section and the constraint
is minimized by adjusting the feed rate at each feed point. The
objective function, , to be minimized is given by
m
min
qB, j > 0
jTj, max  T j
j1
Tj, max e T  90 C 4
where m is the number of feed points.
The conversions at the reactor exit for dierent numbers of
feed points are compared to determine the optimal location. The
left panel in Figure 8 clearly shows that the reactor design with
two equally spaced feed points has the highest conversion.
Further, the conversion decreases exponentially as the number
of feed points increase, nally converging to 81% conversion.
The right panel in Figure 8 shows the accumulated dierence
between the maximum temperature in each reactor section and
the critical temperature limit for the dierent numbers of feed
points. The accumulated temperature dierence increases line-
arly as the number of feed points increases. The accumulated
dierence is zero for the two-feed-point design. We can formally
state that the optimal reactor design that yields the highest
conversion is one with two equally spaced feed points. In the
section Decentralized Control, regulation of the reactor tem-
perature will be based on this two-feed-point reactor design.
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Table 2. PID Controller Designs14,17,18

method KC I D

BLT KCZN/F IZNF 

AMIGO (1/K)(0.2 + 0.45(/)) [(0.4 + 0.8)/( + 0.1)] 0.5/(0.3 + )
IMC (2 + )/(2K( + )) + (/2) /(2 + )

Table 3. Design Values of the PID Controllers

KC I D F , n

BLT T1C 3.73 3.59  4.08 

T2C 2.59 4.11  4.08 
AMIGO T1C 6.81 1.39 0.18  
T2C 4.84 1.46 0.21  
IMC T1C 7.62 3.12 0.17  0.11, 1
T2C 5.42 2.96 0.20  0.13, 1

The BLT design makes use of the PID controller parameters

identified using the ZieglerNichols (ZN) tuning rules,11 but
with the addition of one more parameter, the F factor, to detune
the response:
KCZN
KC I IZN F
F
Figure 9. Illustration of a two-feed-point and two cooling water stream Here, KCZN and IZN are the ZN proportional gain and integral
design.1 time constant, respectively.
For an N  N multivariable process, let G be a matrix of
transfer functions. Assume that N single-input single-output
(SISO) controllers are to be designed where the feedback
controller matrix Gc is given by
2 3
gc, 1 0 333 0
6
60 7
6 gc, 2 3 3 3 0 7 7
Gc s 6
4l l l l 7 5
0 0 0 gc, N

Dene the function

Figure 10. Modied schematic of the two-feed-point design.2
DESIGNING THE DIGITAL PID CONTROLLERS
The velocity form of the digital PID controller10
un un  un1
 
t D
KC en  en1 en en  2en1 en2
I t
5 Approximate M-Constrained Integral Gain Optimization.
is known to eliminate integral windup, where en is the deviation of
the value of the process variable from its set-point value at the nth
time instant, KC is the proportional gain, and I and D are the
integral and derivative time constants (I > 0, D > 0), respec-
tively. The crux of the performance of the PID controller is the
selection of these three parameters.
Biggest Log Modulus. The biggest log modulus controller
(BLT) design method was developed to decouple the interac-
tions in a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) system.4
865
Ws  1 jI GGc j 6
where I is a properly sized identity matrix. Then, the multi-
variable closed-loop log modulus is given by
 
 W 
 
L 20 log  
1 W 
Luyben tested 10 designs (2  2 to 4  4 combinations of
MIMO systems) and found that when L = Lmax = 2N, the closed-
loop response is satisfactory.4 By varying the detuning parameter
F, this criterion can be satised.
The BLT design method does not make use of all the available
process information to characterize the process dynamics.12 The
approximate M-constrained integral gain optimization (AMIGO)
design method was developed to make the choice of the
controller tuning parameters a function of the process. The
AMIGO method is a variant of the M-constrained integral gain
optimization (MIGO) design method.13 The AMIGO method
approximates the correlation between the MIGO controller
parameters and the process transfer function by appropriate
algebraic relations.
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Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research ARTICLE

Figure 11. Closed-loop response of the T1C. 3, BLT; ), AMIGO; /, IMC. Left: Reactor temperature, T1. Right: Cooling water ow rate, qw1.

Figure 12. Closed-loop response of the T2C. 3, BLT; ), AMIGO; /, IMC. Left: Reactor temperature, T2. Right: Cooling water ow rate, qw2.

To apply the AMIGO design, the process dynamics for stable where gc(s) is the controller transfer function. The AMIGO
processes are approximated by a rst-order process with time design is based on the MIGO design method but with a
delay (FOPTD): constraint on the maximum value of the sensitivity function:
1 dy 1:2 e M max jSj e 2:0 9
Kut  >0
dt A value of 1.4 is stated to be a good compromise between
where K is the process steady-state gain, is the process time performance and robustness in many cases.13,14
constant, and is the time delay. Applying the Laplace transform strom et al.5 showed that, for a unit step disturbance, the
operator (L ) with the proper limits, the above time-domain integrated error was equal to 1/KI, where KI (=Kc/I) is the
model can be converted to a Laplace transform model in the integral gain. By maximizing the integral gain (or minimizing the
complex variable s: integrated error) to make M = 1.4, the PID controller parameters
can be determined.15 The parameters obtained from the MIGO
K design procedure are correlated to the parameters (K, , and )
gs es 7 of the process transfer function.14 Approximating this correlation
s 1
with an algebraic relation gives the AMIGO tuning rules (see
where gs L yt=L ut. Table 2) for an FOPTD transfer function.
Dene the sensitivity function: Internal Model Control. An internal model controller (IMC)
design is based on a realizable model of the process.6,16 It is well-
Ss  1 gs gc s1 8 known that the ideal feedback controller is the inverse of the
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Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research ARTICLE

Table 4. Performance Criteria of the T1C and T2C con- Table 5. Closed-Loop Dominant Poles of the Controller
troller designs Designs
BLT AMIGO IMC BLT AMIGO IMC

rise time (s) T1C 21.2 2.3 6.0 real value T1C 0.7019 0.1705 0.5231
T2C 30.7 2.7 6.9 T2C 0.6852 0.2215 0.6338
settling time (s) T1C 4.2 3.5 2.3 imaginary value T1C  (0.0369 
T2C 6.6 2.2 2.8 T2C  (0.0438 
set-point dev (%) T1C 0.82 0.64 0.63
T2C 0.84 0.66 0.65
reactor section as shown in Figure 10. This gure is similar to that
decay ratio T1C  0.005 
found in ref 2 with two feed points and one cooling water stream
T2C  0006  actuator. Two discrete PID controllers are designed to regulate
the CVs to the same set point of 90 C. The MVs are the
respective cooling water ow rates, qw1 and qw2, in each section. If
process; by providing a model of the process and the desired
the closed-loop dynamics of the T1:qw1 controller (T1C) was
control objectives, it is straightforward to obtain the appropriate
designed to be faster than that of the T2:qw2 (T2C) controller, it
controller structure and parameters. However, it is not always
was found that the rst controller will have almost no impact on
feasible to obtain the exact inverse of the process model when the
the second one. This choice of MVs and CVs mitigates cross-
model has a time delay. In that case, only the inverse of the couplings.
realizable part is used.
The FOPTD models are identied from a series of step
Procedurally, factor the transfer function model ~g (s) = ~g +(s)
response tests applied to the nonlinear process model introduced
~g (s) such that ~g (s) contains only the realizable parts and
above. The time domain data that relate the eect of the MVs on
~g +(s) contains everything else. Dene the IMC controller by
the CVs can be transformed to a Laplace domain model in the
c(s)  ~g 1(s) f(s), where f(s) is a lter in the form f(s) =
complex variable s. Using matrix notation, these relations can be
(s + 1)n. The order n of the lter is chosen to guarantee that
written compactly as
the IMC controller is at least proper. For example, in the case of " # " #" #
an FOPTD model of the process, assigning n = 1 gives a T1 g11 s g12 s qw1
realizable design. The parameter can be adjusted to deter-
T2 g21 s g22 s qw2
mine the speed of the closed-loop response. As decreases,
the closed-loop response becomes faster and may become
where
unstable. Conversely, as increases, the closed-loop response 2 3
is stable but sluggish. To compare the IMC and the AMIGO " # 0:55e0:3s
designs, is chosen to satisfy eq 9. Table 2 lists the three PID g11 g12 6 2:94s 1 0 7
Gs 6
4
7
controller designs. g21 g22 0:62e0:44s 5
0
2:75s 1
DECENTRALIZED CONTROL The use of computers to automate control is a common
For the simultaneous objectives of safe operation and max- practice in many industries. Thus, all sensor signals are sampled
imum conversion, the reactor temperature should be regulated at at discrete points in time, t0, t1, ..., tj, and all actuator commands
90 C. The obvious variables to be controlled (CVs) are T1 and are implemented as discrete command signals. However, the
T2, the maximum reactor temperatures measured in each reactor process remains a continuous operation. To design a digital
section of the two-feed-point design. controller, it is necessary to discretize the operation of the
For convenience and accurate control, Haugwitz et al. select process. Here, we apply the z-transform of G(s) by choosing a
the feed temperature of Na2S2O3 (TA,feed) and the cooling water proper sample time t. In practice it is recommended that the
inlet temperature Tcool as the manipulated variables (MVs).2 sample time be selected such that t e 0.1dom.10,19 In the plate
That study pairs T1 with TA,feed and T2 with Tcool. Simulated reactor design, dom 3 s; thus t = 0.3 s is selected as the
results show that these pairings have slow closed-loop response sample time. The resulting discrete transfer functions are
2 3
times and there is some observable degree of interaction between 0:053 1
the CVs. An RGA analysis cannot conrm that there will not be z 0
6 z  0:903 7
strong interactions. Further, the physics of the system shows that Gz 6 4 0:035z  0:029 2 5
7
Tcool introduced at the entrance to the reactor clearly aects what 0 z
z  0:897
happens downstream from the entrance.
Because each plate reactor has its own cooling jacket, two Although the forms of the two transfer functions, g11 and g22,
cooling water streams can be used to control the peak tempera- are similar in the s-domain, their discrete counterparts in
tures in the reactor and to decouple the interactions. Figure 9 the z-domain are dissimilar. This is because their time delays in
shows the reactor and cooling water temperatures and the the s-domain are dierent: g22 has one additional time delay when
conversion rate of Na2S2O3. Comparing this gure with the left compared to g11. The parameter values of the three PID
panel of Figure 5, the values and locations of T1 and T2 do not controllers are listed in Table 3.
change. The conversion rate of Na2S2O3 remains unchanged. Comparison of the Three Digital Controller Designs. We
In the present design, two actuators (cooling water stream consider two constant disturbances (d1 and d2) in the energy
valves) are available to regulate the reactor temperature in each content of the feeds at both feed points.2 These disturbances will
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Figure 13. Closed-loop response of the T1C. 3, BLT; ), AMIGO; /, IMC. Left: Reactor temperature T1. Right: qw1.

Figure 14. Closed-loop response of the T2C. 3, BLT; ), AMIGO; /, IMC. Left: Reactor temperature T2. Right: qw2.

be implemented as step functions: smaller. Further, since there are no time delays in the disturbance
transfer function, the disturbances will have a faster effect on T1
dTr 1 d1
f 1Tr , Tw , CA , CB , CC , u and T2 when compared to the effect of the actuators. The discrete
dt Fr cp Vr versions of eq 11 are
10
dTr 151 d2
f 151Tr , Tw , CA , CB , CC , u 0:0041 0:0037
dt Fr c p V r gd1 z gd2 z 12
z  0:657 z  0:684
( (
0 t e 70 s 0 t e 160 s Simulated results show that, together, the effect of both dis-
d1 d2
100 J=s t > 70 s 100 J=s t > 160 s turbances results in a 2.8% increase in T1 and a 3.2% increase
in T2.
where f[k] = dTr[k]/(dt) in eq 3. The Laplace transfer functions To compare the closed-loop control performance among the
of these two disturbances are three digital PID designs (BLT, AMIGO, and IMC), the follow-
0:0119 0:0117 ing criteria are used: rise time, settling time, ratio of the maximum
gd1 s gd2 s 11 deviation to its set-point value, and the decay ratio.
0:714s 1 0:789s 1
Figures 11 and 12 show the closed-loop results for the T1C
Comparing these to the process transfer functions in the and T2C controllers, respectively, with the dierent PID feed-
s-domain, both the process time constants and the process back controller design methods. Table 4 lists values of the per-
steady-state gains of the disturbance transfer functions are formance criteria.
868 dx.doi.org/10.1021/ie2019245 |Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. 2012, 51, 860871
Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research
Figure 15. Bode graphs of T1C. Top: BLT. Middle: AMIGO. Bottom: IMC.
From Table 4, the BLT design gives the longest rise and
settling times and the greatest set-point deviation. The value of
the detuning factor makes the closed-loop response sluggish
when compared to the other controller designs.
869
ARTICLE
T1C: The set-point deviations in the case of the AMIGO and
IMC designs are nearly the same: 0.64 and 0.63%, respectively.
The AMIGO performance has a longer settling time, and there
are some oscillations in the closed-loop response. The IMC
dx.doi.org/10.1021/ie2019245 |Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. 2012, 51, 860871
Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research
performance shows a larger rise time when compared to the
AMIGO performance. A conclusion that can be reached is that
the IMC controller design gives the best closed-loop perfor-
mance to regulate T1.
T2C: The closed-loop response with the BLT design shows a
sluggish response. The AMIGO performance gives shorter rise
and settling times when compared to the IMC performance;
however, there are some oscillations. It is not dicult to conclude
that the IMC controller design gives the best closed-loop
performance to regulate T2C.
The characteristics of the closed-loop responses of these
controller designs can be explained by their dominant closed-
loop poles. Table 5 lists the dominant poles of the closed-loop
system in the z-domain. Poles near the unit circle of the z-plane
result in sluggish responses, while poles that are complex give
oscillatory responses. Only the AMIGO design has closed-loop
poles that are complex. The dominant poles with the BLT design
are points that are closest to the unit circle boundary, which
results in the most sluggish response.
Controller Robustness. To study the robustness of the
controllers, the disturbances are decreased rather than increased
at the feed points.
( (
0 t e 70 s 0 t e 160 s
d1 d2
100 J=s t > 70 s 100 J=s t > 160 s
The two disturbances together cause a 2.1% decrease in T1 and
a 2.5% decrease in T2. Figures 13 and 14 show the closed-loop
results for the T1C and T2C feedback digital controller
designs. The performances of the two controllers are similar.
The AMIGO regulator exhibits oscillation, and as before the
IMC design gives the best closed-loop performance.
Closed-Loop Stability. The gain and phase margins are
measures of stability of the closed-loop system. Both measures
can be quantified from a Bode graph of the closed-loop response.
Figure 15 shows the Bode graph of the three controller designs
for the T1C controller.
From these graphs, the gain margins of the IMC and the
AMIGO designs are similar, but in the former, the phase margin
is 30.7% greater than the latter. This means the IMC design is
more stable. The BLT design has the largest gain and phase
margins, which indicates a very stable feedback system. However,
a system with a large gain margin or a large phase margin also is
very sluggish,20,21 which is not attractive for achieving a fast but
stable closed-loop performance. The Bode graphs for T2C
controllers (not shown) are similar to those for T1C controllers.
Measurement Noise. Measurement noise always exists. As-
sume the measurement noise is Gaussian with a mean value of
zero and a variance that is 10% the signal variance. That is, the
SNR (signal-to-noise ratio) is 10:1. Assume that the size of the
disturbances are d1 = d2 = 100 J/s. The closed-loop performances
of the BLT and IMC controller designs exhibit no change when
compared to the noise-free cases. Because the BLT design makes
the closed-loop response sluggish, it appears to be insensitive to
the presence of noise. In the case of the IMC design, there is an
explicit filtering function; thus the noise is attenuated. However,
measurement noise has an obvious effect on the AMIGO
controller performance (not shown). Such results also can be
predicted from the gain and phase margins of these three
controller designs. For the AMIGO regulator, the settling time
of the T2C controller increases by 5.7%. The decay ratios of
ARTICLE
T1C and T2C controllers increase by 16.7 and 20%, respec-
tively, when compared to the noise-free case.
CONCLUSION
A formal analysis of a novel plate reactor system was carried
out to determine the optimal number of distributed feed points
for one of the feed components. It was shown that a reactor
design with two feed points equally spaced along the reactor
length was optimal assuming the same component feed rate.
Regulation of this two-feed-point design was investigated using
three digital PID controller designs. The performance of the
controllers to regulate the reactor temperature in two sections of
the reactor was compared when disturbances and measurement
noise were present.
The main contributions of this work are as follows. The
location and number of feed points to maximize conversion
within the thermal constraint was found using optimization
theory. Prior studies provided no such rigorous justication.
Discrete digital PID controllers were designed and compared for
this two-feed-point design. Such controllers are practical con-
sidering that modern chemical plants routinely apply digital
control technologies to regulate their plants. It was concluded
that the internal model controller design method was the most
eective in regulating the process.
The plate reactor model was developed as a one-dimensional
plug ow reactor. If this assumption is not valid (i.e., cross-
sectional gradients of temperature and concentration cannot be
neglected), then it is reasonable to consider using a method such
as computational uid dynamics to provide a more realistic
model to determine the optimal number and location of the
feed points, and to design and validate appropriate regulators.
AUTHOR INFORMATION
Corresponding Author
*E-mail: karlene.hoo@ttu.edu. Tel.: (806) 742-4079. Fax: (806)
742-3552.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Y.C. was supported by the TTU Process Control and Opti-
mization Consortium.
NOMENCLATURE
AMIGO = approximate M-constrained integral gain optimization
BLT = biggest log modulus
CSTR = continuous stirred-tank reactor
CV = control variable
FOPTD = rst order plus time delay
IMC = internal model control
MIGO = M-constrained integral gain optimization
MV = manipulated variable
NLODE = nonlinear ordinary dierential equation
NLPDE = nonlinear partial dierential equation
PFR = plug ow reactor
PID = proportional integral derivative
RGA = relative gain array
SISO = single input single output
SNR = signal-to-noise ratio
ZN = ZieglerNichols
870 dx.doi.org/10.1021/ie2019245 |Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. 2012, 51, 860871
Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research ARTICLE

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