Economic model predictive control of nonlinear process systems using multiple empirical models

Economic model predictive control (EMPC) is a feedback control technique that attempts to tightly integrate economic optimization and feedback control since it is a predictive control scheme that is formulated with an objective function representing the process economics. As its name implies, EMPC requires the availability of a dynamic model to compute its control actions and such a model may be obtained either through application of first-principles or though system identification techniques. However, in industrial practice, it may be difficult in general to obtain an accurate first-principles model of the process. Motivated by this, in the present work, Lyapunov-based economic model predictive control (LEMPC) is designed with multiple linear empirical models. The different models are used to more accurately predict the behavior of a nonlinear system over a larger state-space region compared to using a single empirical linear model only. The LEMPC scheme is applied to a chemical process example to demonstrate its closed-loop stability and performance properties as well as significant computational advantages.