Resilient and Robust Control of an Energy Integrated Distillation Column

A distillation column equipped with an intermediate condenser for energy conservation was studied using advanced multivariable control techniques. The intermediate condenser heat duty was successfully used as an extra manipulated variable, giving rise to non-square three input-two output control system designs. The material balance control structure had much better performance than the energy balance structure. The primary advantage of the non-square control system is that it minimizes the control effort required to counteract a process disturbance. This gives the non-square control system the capability of handling a larger magnitude disturbance than a square control system.