Nonlinear Control of a Two-Input, Trhee-State Polymerization Reactor

A differential geometric methodology is used to establish, at the structural level (regardless of specific controllers), the existence of a global solution of the nonlinear control problem associated to a free-radical, polymerization reactor. The structural characterization turns out to depend exclusively on stoichiometric constraints and on parameters associated to the reaction kinetic scheme. At the design stage, a controller is built by means of feedback design for a linear equivalent of the process. Numerical simulations corroborate the globality of the controller.