MULTIVARIABLE CONTROL OF A CATALYTIC TUBULAR REACTOR USING BOTH WIENER-HOPF CONTROLLER DESIGN AND INTERNAL MODEL CONTROLLER DESIGN APPROACHES

A practical application of advanced model-based multivariate control to a pilot plant packed bed reactor carrying out highly exothermic butane hydrogenolysis reactions is presented. The system was first stabilized by using butane flow rate to control the reactor hotspot temperature. Propane production and butane conversion were then controlled using multivariate controllers which manipulated the hotspot temperature setpoint and hydrogen flow …