Model adequacy requirements for optimizing plant operations

One of the simplest measures of the success of an optimization system is its ability to correctly identify the optimum process operations policy. In the case of a model-based real-time optimization system, few tools are available to the system designer for investigating the suitability of a candidate process mode for use in such systems. This paper presents point-wise model adequacy checking methods, both analytical and numerical, for determining the ability of the model-based optimization system to have an optimum coincident with that of the true process. The paper concludes with a case study using the reactor for the Williams-Otto plant, where two different approximations to the reaction sequence are tested for point-wise model adequacy.