McMillan-ARCM2015.

book Page iii Thursday, October 16, 2014 12:12 PM

Advances in Reactor
Measurement and
Control
by Gregory K. McMillan
McMillan-ARCM2015.book Page xi Thursday, October 16, 2014 12:12 PM

Preface

The reactor sets the stage for plant capability. Reactor performance largely
determines product quality and process capacity. The product coming out of
the reactor has to meet product specifications or production requirements to
give downstream processes for separation and purification a chance to do
their job. Advances in the use of control strategies, inferential measurements,
and PID tuning and features for the different types of reactors have increased
the opportunities for control and optimization.

There is an incredible difference in process dynamics and tuning rules based

on the type of reactor. Considerable disagreement has consequently arisen as
to the tuning settings and the importance of the dynamics of automation sys-
tem components. Each control strategy is considered special and improve-
ments by simple configuration changes are not recognized.

The implications of the usage of different types of reactors and the subsequent
process dynamics are illustrated when considering controlling temperature
by manipulating reactant feed. While inherently maximizing production rate,
this strategy is assiduously avoided in liquid reactors but is effectively uti-
lized in fluidized bed gas reactors; there is essentially no inverse response or
process time constant in these gas reactors. The process dead time, the resi-
dence time (volume/flow), is a few seconds for the high flow rate in these
high capacity processes. The largest time constant in the loop is the tempera-
ture sensor, which leads to possible attenuation and deception. Other gas flow
reactors have recycle streams and heat integration that introduce complex and
fast dynamics. The tuning objective for these reactors is to minimize sudden
changes and overshoot in the PID output rather than in disturbance rejection.
PID gains in the range of 1 to 4 are used, as larger sensor lags offer the ability
to increase the PID gain and reduce the amplitude of process oscillations, giv-
ing an illusion of better control. This illusion can lead to product quality prob-
lems and an increase in the lag by sensor selection, installation, and
maintenance practices.

Liquid well-mixed continuous reactors have completely different dynamics

and tuning. The process time constant is the residence time. The process time

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xii Advances in Reactor Measurement and Control

constant is large, approaching an hour for slow reactions. The process dead
time is ½ of the turnover time and is generally just a few seconds. In these
reactors, the process time constant is 100 times or more the process dead time.
The tuning rules minimize excursions of the process variable, maximizing dis-
turbance rejection. The PID output is changed aggressively to minimize errors
in the PID input. Overshoot of the PID output is necessary to reach setpoint in
a reasonable time frame with PID gains of 10 to 40 being common. The process
response is approximated as near-integrating, and the integrating process tun-
ing rules developed for batch processes are used.

Batch processes have an extremely slow response and even more aggressive
changes in the PID output are employed. Overshoot is necessary for the PID
input to reach a new setpoint. PID gains of 20 to 80 are used for tight control.
Runaway processes require high gains for stability.

A key feature to enable tight control without upsetting utility systems from
aggressive changes in the PID output is external reset feedback, while rate
limits on the setpoint being manipulated by the PID output provide direc-
tional move suppression. This PID feature will be shown to be helpful in
many other ways for control and optimization of all types of reactors.

Despite the importance of reactor control and the wide variety of process
responses, which leads to a considerable spectrum of control strategies and
tuning objectives, this is the first book dedicated to the subject of reactor mea-
surement and control from a practitioner’s perspective. Concepts are devel-
oped to help the reader understand the fundamental differences in reactor
applications and provide the ability to improve the performance of nearly all
types of reactors.