On-line parameter estimation and process monitoring of simulated moving bed chromatographic separation processes

As an alternative to conventional batch chromatography as a discontinuous process, the simulated moving bed process (SMB process) as a continuous Chromatographie separation process gained more and more impact recently. For economically optimal operation of the process, a model based control and optimisation scheme is preferable. As part of this scheme, an on-line parameter and state estimation approach based on a simplified dynamic process model is presented here. The approach only needs two on-line concentration measurements at the product outlets, which are also used for product monitoring, to estimate the physical parameters of each Chromatographie column in the loop separately.