A biomass combustion plant model for optimal control applications - The effect of key variables on combustion dynamics

Maintaining economical and ecological optimal conditions in a biomass firing unit is a very complex task, due to the fuel heterogeneity on the one hand, the complex combustion and boiler dynamics on the other hand. One probably inevitable way to attain the aforementioned objectives is by advanced modelbased control, which requires a dynamic model of the process. In this work, mathematical modeling of a biomass combustion plant is carried out to derive a suitable dynamic model to be used at the core of a non-linear model predictive control strategy, that can handle multiple conflicting objectives and process constraint.