Linear output feedback control of copolymerization reactors

The continuous solution copolymerization is an important industrial process, whose control presents problems of closed-loop stability, robustness, and strong nonlinear and asymmetric I/O interactions. To tackle these problems, in this work we propose cascaded and ratio conventional-type three-output linear multivariable control schemes which are built as linear output-feedback approximations to state-feedback (SF) nonlinear controllers obtained from geometric control theory. The proposed methodology includes solvability conditions and tests, and its application is illustrated with a MMA-VA copolymerization reactor