Essential oil extraction with automated steam distillation: FMRLC for steam temperature regulation

Fuzzy model reference learning control (FMRLC), a model based controller, was implemented in steam distillation extraction oil process. The FMRLC was designed to regulate steam temperature inside the distillation column during extraction process. Maintaining the temperature to a certain degree for the period of extraction process is very important because the temperature will influence the output quality and quantity of essential oil. In this study, the FMRLC was simulated based on ARX modeled plant to regulate process steam temperature up to 85°C. The simulation was based on tuning method to obtained optimized FMRLC parameters. Then, the simulated result was validated by real process implementation.