INVESTIGATION OF OPERABILITY AND CONTROLLABILITY PROPERTIES OF A PILOT-SCALE DISTILLATION COLUMN

摘要

The results of an operability and controllability study of a pilot-scale distillation column separating a mixture of ethanol and water are presented. The relative gain for diagonal variable pairing in the LV -structure as well as the condition number are used as measures of controllability. Of particular interest are ill-conditioned operating regions characterized by strong directionality, which is typical of high-purity distillation. Operating constraints imposed by the column and the existing instrumentation are also taken into account. The investigation is carried out by means of a simulator, which has been calibrated with experimental data.