Economic Benefit from Progressive Integration of Scheduling and Control for Continuous Chemical Processes
1
Department of Chemical Engineering, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT 84602, USA
2
Department of Computer Science, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT 84602, USA
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Processes 2017, 5(4), 84; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr5040084
Received: 14 November 2017 / Revised: 3 December 2017 / Accepted: 7 December 2017 / Published: 13 December 2017
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Combined Scheduling and Control)
Performance of integrated production scheduling and advanced process control with disturbances is summarized and reviewed with four progressive stages of scheduling and control integration and responsiveness to disturbances: open-loop segregated scheduling and control, closed-loop segregated scheduling and control, open-loop scheduling with consideration of process dynamics, and closed-loop integrated scheduling and control responsive to process disturbances and market fluctuations. Progressive economic benefit from dynamic rescheduling and integrating scheduling and control is shown on a continuously stirred tank reactor (CSTR) benchmark application in closed-loop simulations over 24 h. A fixed horizon integrated scheduling and control formulation for multi-product, continuous chemical processes is utilized, in which nonlinear model predictive control (NMPC) and continuous-time scheduling are combined.