Advanced Control Foundation: Tools, Techniques and Applications

Advanced Control Foundation:

Tools, Techniques and Applications

Terrence Blevins

Willy K. Wojsznis

Mark Nixon

Notice

The information presented in this publication is for the general education of the reader. Because neither the author(s) nor the publisher has any control over the use of the information by the reader, both the author(s) and the publisher disclaim any and all liability of any kind arising out of such use. The reader is expected to exercise sound professional judgment in using any of the information presented in a particular application.

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Copyright © 2013 International Society of Automation (ISA)

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Dedication

This book is dedicated to Karen Blevins, Susan Wojsznis, and Nancy Nixon, who have provided encouragement and support throughout our careers.

Contents

Acknowledgments

About the Authors

Foreword

1 - Introduction

2 - Maximizing Return on Control System Investment

2.1 Economic Incentive

2.2 Reducing Process Variation – Achieving Control Objectives

2.3 Advanced Control

2.4 Balancing Complexity with Benefits

BIBLIOGRAPHY

3 - Evaluating Control System Performance

3.1 Evaluating Control Performance

3.2 Improving Control Utilization

3.3 Addressing Process Variability

3.5 Workshop Exercises – Introduction

3.6 Evaluating Control System Performance Workshop

3.7 Technical Basis

BIBLIOGRAPHY

4 - On-Demand Tuning

4.1 Process Identification

4.2 On-Demand Tuning Workshop

4.3 Technical Basis

BIBLIOGRAPHY

5 - Adaptive Tuning

5.1 Adaptive Control – Examples

5.2 Application Example

5.3 Adaptive Tuning Workshop

5.4 Technical Basis

BIBLIOGRAPHY

6 - Fuzzy Logic Control

6.1 Application Example

6.2 Fuzzy Logic Control Workshop

6.3 Technical Basis

BIBLIOGRAPHY

7 - Neural Networks for Property Estimation

7.1 Example – Pulp and Paper Industry

7.2 Property Estimator Application Example

7.3 Neural Networks for Property Estimation Workshop

7.4 Technical Basis

BIBLIOGRAPHY

8 - Intelligent PID

8.1 Recovery from Process Saturation

8.2 Control Using Wireless Transmitter

8.3 Application Examples

8.4 Intelligent PID Workshop

8.5 Technical Basis

BIBLIOGRAPHY

9 - Continuous Data Analytics

9.1 Application Example

9.3 Continuous Data Analytics Workshop

9.4 Technical Basis

BIBLIOGRAPHY

10 - Batch Data Analytics

 10.1 Batch Production Challenges

 10.2 Data Analytics Application Example – Modeling and On-line Operation

 10.3 Batch Data Analytics Workshop

 10.4 Technical Basis

 BIBLIOGRAPHY

11 - Simple MPC

 11.1 MPC as a Replacement for PID

 11.2 Commissioning MPC

 11.3 MPC Replacement for PID with Feedforward

 11.4 MPC Replacement for PID Override

 11.5 Using MPC to Address Process Interactions

 11.6 Application Examples

 11.7 MPC Application Development Procedure

 11.8 Simple MPC Workshop

 11.9 Technical Basis

 BIBLIOGRAPHY

12 - MPC Integrated with Optimization

 12.1 Application Example – Multiple Effect Evaporator

 12.2 Application Example – CTMP Refiner

 12.3 Application Example – Heavy Oil Fractionator

 12.4 MPC Integrated with Optimization Workshop

 12.5 Technical Basis

 BIBLIOGRAPHY

13 - On-line Optimization

 13.1 Why Optimization – A Look at Boiler Load Allocation

 13.2 Energy Optimization in a Pulp and Paper Mill

 13.3 On-line Optimization Workshop

 13.4 Technical Basis

 BIBLIOGRAPHY

14 - Process Simulation

 14.1 Process Simulation Techniques

 14.2 Developing a Process Simulation from the P&ID

 14.3 Simulating Process Non-linearity

 14.4 Other Considerations

 14.5 Process Simulation Workshop

 14.6 Theory – Simulation Based on Step Response

 BIBLIOGRAPHY

15 - Integrating Advanced Control into a DCS

 15.1 Integrating with Plant Systems

 15.2 Network and System Setup

 15.3 Application Example

 BIBLIOGRAPHY

Appendix A

Glossary of Terms

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to express their appreciation to Grant Wilson and Peter Zornio for supporting advanced control research and work on this book, and to Jim Nyquist, John Berra, Mike Sheldon, Duncan Schleiss, John Caldwell, Dawn Marruchella, Darrin Kuchle, Jay Colclazer, Nathan Pettus, Bruce Greenwald, Jim Hoffmaster, Ron Eddie and Gil Pareja from Emerson Process Management for their inspiration and support of advanced control initiatives. Also, we would like to express our deepest thanks to Bud Keyes, former Senior Vice President of Technology, Emerson Process Management for his initiative in establishing the DeltaV advanced control program. In our work, we have benefited from communications with Karl Åström from Lund University, Tom Edgar from the University of Texas, Joe Qin from the University of Southern California, and Dale Seborg from the University of California, Santa Barbara on both basic and advanced control topics. The authors wish to thank Joanne Salazar, Glenn McLaughin, and Deborah Franke for their help with the web site for this book and Brenda Forsythe and Jim Sipowicz for the creative book cover design. We want to thank Joan Forbes and Cary Laird for their thorough review of the first draft and many editing suggestions. We also want to thank technical editor Scott Bogue for his excellent review of the final draft. In addition, we appreciate the input provided by ISA, and thank Susan Colwell, Manager, Publications Development, ISA, for her support in the publication of this book.

Over the years we have benefited from working with many others in the design and implementation of advanced control tools. The authors are deeply indebted to the developers of the advanced control tools that were the basis for writing this book. This includes Vasiliki Tzovla, Ron Ottenbacher, Dirk Thiele, Ashish Mehta, Yan Zhang, Peter Wojsznis, Ian Nadas, Paul Muston, Bob Havekost, Paul Daly, Adam Qui, Chris Worek, Ken Beoughter, Dan Christensen, Ling Zhou, Ian Lloyd, and Vivi Hidayat. Also, we would like to recognize the valuable contribution of Tom Aneweer, Dennis Stevenson, Dick Seemann, Yang Zhang, Steve Morrison, Mike Ott, Chuck Johnston, Randy Reiss, Greg McMillan, Todd Maras, Michael Boudreau, David Rehbein, Pat Dixon, Quay Finefrock, Shelli Callender, and Sai Ganesamoorthi. We gratefully acknowledge the support of the many customers we have worked with in field testing advanced control products. In particular, the following individuals supported evaluation of these tools in their plants: John Traylor, Texas Eastman; Mark Sowell, Solutia; Romeo Ancheta, Husky Energy; Derrick Vanderkraats, Canfor; Bruce Johnson and Efren Hernandez, Lubrizol; Bruce Eldridge, Frank Seibert, Ricardo Dunia, Eric Chen, Robert Montgomery, and Stephen W. Briggs, University of Texas, Austin, Pickle Research Center; Scott Broadley, President, Broadley-James; and Dan Coyne and Paul Oram, BP. Our special thanks goes to the Lubrizol team led by Bob Wojewodka for their feedback on the development of data analytics.

The authors greatly appreciate the effort of Emerson Process Management Systems and Solutions control engineers progressing advanced control applications in petrochemical, oil and gas, chemical, life science, pulp and paper, power, and other industries. Our thanks go to James Beall, Lou Heavner, Pete Sharpe, Doug White, Jim Dunbar, Elizabeth Alagar, and many others.

It has been gratifying to work with Terry Chmelyk, Don Umbach, John Peterson, and Mike Begin and the rest of Spartan Control’s team in field testing new advanced control technologies. The lime kiln example in this book is an example of their work in this area. Also, we greatly appreciate the work done by the Spartan Control and Emerson Process Management teams in applying real-time optimization and MPC in a wide variety of applications. The application examples derived from the valuable field experience of Chris Hawkins, George Buchanan, Andrew Riley from Emerson Process Management, UK, Terrance Chmelyk, Saul Mtakula, Manny Sidhu, and Carl Sheehan from Spartan Controls, Barry Hirtz from Canfor, and by Stewart McLeod from Catalyst Paper greatly enriched this book

We are indebted and thankful as well to many of those not listed here who impacted the development of Emerson Process Management’s advanced control products or contributed to the successful application of these products and inspired us to write this book.

About the Authors

Terrence L. Terry Blevins has been actively involved in the application and design of process control systems throughout his career. For more than 15 years, he worked as a systems engineer and group manager in the design and startup of advanced control solutions for the pulp and paper industry. Terry was instrumental in the establishment of Emerson Process Management’s Advanced Control Program. From 1998-2005 Terry was the team lead for the development of DeltaV advanced control products. He is the Fieldbus Foundation team lead for the development and maintenance of the Function Block Specification and editor of the SIS Architecture and Model Specifications. In this capacity, Terry is involved in the adoption of Fieldbus Foundation function block work by international standards. Terry is the US expert to the IEC SC65E WG7 function block committee that is responsible for the IEC 61804 function block standards. He is a voting member and chairman of ISA SP104-EDDL (Electronic Device Description Language) committee and is the technical advisor to the United States Technical Advisory Group (USTAG) for the IEC65E subcommittee. He is also a member of the USNC TAG (IEC/SC65 and IEC/TC65). Terry authored An Overview of the ISA/IEC Fieldbus, Section 11, Standards Overview, Fifth Edition of the Process/Industrial Instruments and Controls Handbook and coauthored four sections in the Fourth Edition of the Instrumentation Engineer’s Handbook, Process Control and Optimization. He coauthored the ISA bestselling books Advanced Control Unleashed and Control Loop Foundation. He has over 45 patents and has written over 70 papers on process control system design and applications. Terry received a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Louisville in 1971 and a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering from Purdue University in 1973. In 2004, he was inducted into Control Magazine’s Process Automation Hall of Fame.

Presently, Terry is a principal technologist in the future architecture team of DeltaV Product Engineering at Emerson Process Management.

Phone: (512) 418-4628 E-mail: terry.blevins@emerson.com

Willy Wojsznis has been involved in the development of advanced control products over the last twenty years focusing on model predictive control, data analytics, and auto tuning. Over the previous nearly 25-years of his career he developed computer control systems and applications in the cement, steel, mining, and paper industries. His professional work resulted in a number of successful and innovative advanced control products, over thirty patents, and over forty technical papers. He received a control engineering degree (EE) from Kiev Technical University in 1964, an M.S. in Applied Mathematics from Wroclaw University in 1972, and a Ph.D. from Warsaw University of Technology in 1973. He coauthored the ISA bestselling book Advanced Control Unleashed. In 2010, he was inducted into Control Magazine’s Process Automation Hall of Fame. Presently, Willy is part of the DeltaV future architecture team. He conducts applied research in the areas of optimization, adaptive control, data analytics, and model predictive control.

Phone: (512) 418-7475 E-mail: willy.wojsznis@emerson.com

Mark Nixon has been involved in the design and development of control systems throughout his career. Mark started his career as a systems engineer working on projects in oil and gas, refining, chemicals, and pulp and paper. In 1998, he moved from Canada to Austin, TX, where he has held a variety of positions in both research and development. From 1995 to 2005 Mark was lead architect for DeltaV. In 2006 he joined the wireless team, taking a very active role in the development of the WirelessHART specifications and the development of the IEC 62591 standardization. Mark’s current research includes control using WirelessHART devices, data analytics for batch processes, wireless technology in the process industry, web based user interfaces, operator interfaces, and advanced graphics. He is currently active in the Center for Operator Performance (http://www.operatorperformance.org), WirelessHART, ISA88, Foundation Fieldbus standards (http://www.fieldbus.org/), and ISA101. He has written numerous papers and currently holds over 70 patents. He coauthored WirelessHART: Real-Time Mesh Network for Industrial Automation and has made contributions to the Industrial Instruments and Controls Handbook and Modern Measurement and Final Element Essentials for the Process Industry. He coauthored the ISA bestselling book Control Loop Foundation. In 2012, he was inducted into Control Magazine’s Process Automation Hall of Fame. Mark received his Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Waterloo in 1982.

Phone: (512) 418-7445 E-mail: mark.nixon@emerson.com

Foreword

Process control has become increasingly important in the process industries as a consequence of global competition, rapidly changing economic conditions, and more stringent environmental and safety regulations. High-performance measurement and control systems have become an essential part of industrial plants. To address this environment, the authors of Advanced Control Foundation: Tools, Techniques and Applications have assembled a set of approaches that are at the cutting edge of process control practice.

The authors all come from Emerson Process Management, and I have had the distinct pleasure of collaborating with them on a variety of process control projects during the past 12 years. They are well-respected engineers and members of the Process Automation Hall of Fame by virtue of their past contributions to computer process control, with over 100 years of collective experience in this field. Two of the authors previously helped write the successful ISA book Advanced Control Unleashed (2003), which presents techniques, such as model predictive control, fuzzy logic control, and artificial neural networks to improve performance over what may be obtained by basic feedback and feedforward control.

The new book covers timely topics, such as advanced multi-loop techniques, control system performance evaluation, adaptive and model-based tuning, fuzzy logic and neural networks, wireless control, continuous and batch data analytics, model predictive control, and real-time optimization. It also includes companion software that can be used in a workshop setting. The authors do not take a theoretical approach, but rely on the foundational underpinnings of process control in presenting the various topics.

Representative applications are presented for a variety of industries, including ammonia manufacturing, pulp and paper, refining, batch specialty manufacturing, power generation, and life sciences. The presented applications reflect the most recent progress in the area of advanced process control. Most of the presented approaches were developed in research collaboration of the University of Texas at Austin, University of California, Santa Barbara, and Emerson Process Management. The book is well-suited for independent study by industry professionals, and I congratulate the authors on producing this useful compendium of advanced control techniques.

Professor Thomas F. Edgar

University of Texas, Austin, TX

1 - Introduction

The mathematical basis for many of the advanced control techniques in use today was known long before the technology was available to incorporate these techniques into process control systems. With the introduction of the first process control computers in the 1970s, it became possible to deploy advanced control as a layered application. Today, advanced control products are available as embedded applications within modern process control systems or as layered applications that may be easily added to older control systems. In this book, examples of commercially available products illustrate advanced control tools that are commonly used in the process control industry.

The authors’ work in the design, development, and field testing of advanced control software products can in many cases be traced to the establishment in the early 1990s of an advanced control research and development program within Emerson Process Management. Many of the advanced control products embedded in the DeltaV control system came out of this program. The ISA book Advanced Control Unleashed – Plant Performance Management for Optimum Benefit, published in 2003, included examples based on advanced control software products embedded in the DeltaV control system. Since then we have seen significant improvements made in advanced control tool capabilities and in user interfaces, improvements that make it easier to design and commission advanced control solutions. Also since then, new advanced control applications have been introduced for batch and continuous processes. This book provides a fresh look at some of the latest advanced control technologies that are available to the process industry.

In this work, we benefited from the insight of many people we have worked with over the years in applying advanced control. Our goal in writing this book is to address concepts and terminology that are needed to understand and apply advanced control. The book will provide insight that will be helpful in applying advanced control techniques to improve plant performance. Whether the reader is working as a process control engineer in a manufacturing plant, in a controls group within an engineering department, or in an instrumentation department within a manufacturing plant, the information in this book sets a solid foundation for implementing advanced control solutions.

Today, the process control systems installed in the process industry can be quite large and complex in design. Therefore, a person who is familiar with traditional control techniques may be reluctant to take the time needed to explore and work with the advanced control tools that are part of the control system. This is unfortunate, because in many cases advanced control techniques can provide significant advantages over traditional control techniques. The application examples in each chapter are designed to address multiple aspects of the design, implementation, and commissioning of advanced control solutions and how advanced control techniques compare to traditional control techniques.

There are many aspects of advanced control, and this book is structured to allow engineers, managers, technicians, and others who are new to advanced control to quickly get up to speed on the technology and how it is applied. Experienced control engineers who are familiar with advanced control products will benefit from the application examples and solutions to workshops included in the book. The material is presented in a manner that is independent of the control system manufacturer. The workshops can be completed using a web browser to access the web site that has been created for this book.

In general, the world of process control is broken into the control of batch and continuous processes. In this book we focus primarily on continuous process advanced control techniques, which in many cases can also be applied to batch processes. Many of the examples and workshops illustrate the control of both continuous and batch processes.

The chapters in this book can be read in any order. If the reader has worked with advanced control tools in the past, it is possible to read only those chapters that address the topics of most interest. Even so, it is a good idea to at least review all chapters and associated workshops to gain a better appreciation of the latest features of advanced control tools. In most cases these added features make it easier and faster to design and commission advanced control systems. Many of the concepts on justifying advanced control introduced in the first portion of the book establish a basis for understanding that can be helpful in assessing the benefits provided by techniques presented in later sections of the book. Also, with this understanding it should become clear that an advanced control strategy can and should be designed and justified independent of the advanced control software product that is selected to implement the solution.

In each chapter on specific advanced control techniques, examples are used to show a typical application interface that is used to configure and commission advanced control solutions. When advanced control is embedded in the control system, the advanced control application interface can be fully integrated into the distributed control system. Also, in some cases, example displays are shown that can be used by the operator to access an advanced control solution. A significant part of the operator interface is directly tied to the control strategy. For example, the alarm system is often carefully designed to focus operator attention on the highest priority alarms first. Although the overall design of operator interface displays for advanced control implementation is beyond the scope of this book, many of the examples illustrate the working relationship between the control strategy and the operator interface displays

The authors assume that the reader may not have worked with advanced control systems and concepts but does have a solid understanding of conventional control techniques and software tools for control implementation within a distributed control system. Thus, each chapter covers concepts and terminology that are helpful in working with advanced control. For example, the chapters on maximizing return on control system investment and evaluating control system performance address the basic principles that must be understood to estimate the economic benefits that can be achieved using advanced control products. In looking at whether advanced control is appropriate for a manufacturing plant, it is important to keep in mind the plant’s requirements as well as the economic savings that may be achieved by using advanced control techniques. For example, what are the production and quality objectives that must be met? When the control goals and economic savings are clearly understood, it is usually a straightforward process to determine if advanced control products can be economically justified and, if so, to choose the appropriate advanced control technique.

Background material on economic justification for an investment in advanced control is included in the first part of the book. Examples are used to illustrate techniques that the authors have found useful in justifying improvements that can be achieved within a variety of process operations.

Having established a background in basic concepts and terminology, the book then addresses specific techniques such as on-demand or adaptive tuning that can be used to improve the operation of an existing control system. Later chapters address advanced control techniques such as fuzzy logic control and model predictive control, which may be used not only to replace traditional control techniques but to significantly extend control system functionality and the benefits obtained. As we address these new areas, the advantages of advanced control techniques will become obvious.

At various points in the chapters on advanced control techniques, the reader has an opportunity to see an example of advanced control product by viewing the workshop solutions. The workshop solutions are provided on the web site http://www.advancedcontrolfoundation.com/ and can be accessed without special software. The only requirement is access to a high speed Internet connection and a web browser. In the Appendix we provide detailed directions on how to access the web site. The workshop is designed to reinforce learning of the material in the chapter. The workshops are structured to be fun as well as informative. After viewing the workshop solution, it may be helpful to go back through the chapter if the workshop solution was not clearly understood. A dynamic process simulation is built into each of the book’s workshops to show a realistic representation of the type of process response that may be achieved with the advanced control techniques presented in this book. The authors have found that during the pre-commissioning checkout of an advanced control system it is often helpful to create a dynamic process simulation that interacts with the control system. When a reasonable process simulation is tied to the control system, the control operation and the process response will usefully simulate those encountered in actual plant operation. Chapter 14 is dedicated to techniques that can be used to create a process simulation using the same tools that are commonly available within most process control systems.

After the advanced control techniques that are most commonly used in industry are covered, techniques that can be used to integrate advanced control into an existing control system are addressed in Chapter 15. Some of the common issues that must be addressed in doing this are discussed in this chapter. Examples are used to illustrate how advanced control can be layered on top of an existing control system.

Throughout the book, as advanced control techniques are introduced, the manner in which each technique can be applied to address various process control requirements is illustrated using process examples and workshops. It should become clear by studying the examples how these control techniques can be applied to other processes with similar requirements. It is our hope that the understanding achieved by reading this book and viewing the workshop solution will set a foundation for addressing other control applications.

The reader should feel free to contact the authors at their email addresses with any questions about the book or about the use of the web-based workshops.

All royalties from this book will be given directly to universities and educational programs to promote and enhance the understanding of advanced process control. A beneficiary of each year’s royalties will be chosen by the authors.

2 - Maximizing Return on Control System Investment

To maximize the return on control investment, the design of a new control system or the improvement of an existing control system should take into account the desired system performance and the installation and long term maintenance costs. Having a clear idea of the control system’s objectives (as defined below) is critical in achieving long term benefits from the control system. When a modern digital control system has been installed, then the flexibility of these systems allows changes to be quickly made in process control implementation. However, such changes often have a direct impact on control system documentation, operator training, display configuration, and, in some cases, the field devices that will be required to implement the changes. The ease of making changes in a modern digital system does not reduce the need to clarify the control system objectives early in a project and to evaluate the expected benefits and the installation and long term maintenance costs.

The objectives of process control system changes generally fall into one of three categories:

Response to an economic incentive (reduced cost or increased revenue)

Safety and environmental compliance

Equipment protection

One category of objectives of a new or upgraded control system is response to an economic incentive by an improvement in plant operating efficiency through better utilization of feedstock materials (i.e., higher yields), a reduction in off-specification product or a reduction in energy consumption. In addition, when there is a sufficient demand for a product produced by a plant, an increase in revenue can be achieved by increasing plant throughput. A second category is safety and environmental compliance. The safe operation of a plant often requires that critical operating parameters be maintained within their normal range. The control system is designed with functions that, in the event of a process upset, act to avoid the disruption that can be introduced by a shutdown initiated by a separate safety system. However, if safe operating conditions are not maintained by the control system, the safety system takes action. The control logic and field devices that make up a safety system operate independently of the process control system. In this way, the safety system acts as an independent arbiter of actions taken by the control system and thus is ultimately responsible for the safety of the plant. If the distributed control system has been recently installed, then the safety system may be incorporated into the distributed control system and share resources such as the operator interface and environment for control configuration.

One example of how the functions provided by the control system are essential for environmental compliance is in keeping emitted gases and waste streams within limits that are set by environmental standards. Newer distributed control systems incorporate interface capability such as OPC for exchange of process control data. This capability may be used to access analyzers measurements used to prove environmental compliance. Such measurements may be monitored and included in control strategies designed to maintain operating conditions required to avoid exceeding limits set by environmental standards.

The third category of control system objectives is protecting the process equipment. Certain plant operating conditions may result in process equipment damage but do not pose a safety or environmental risk. In these cases, the process control system is often responsible for taking corrective action to avoid equipment damage. For example, a pump that is used to transfer liquid from a tank may run dry if the tank is emptied. This can cause damage to the pump. Since this condition does not create an unsafe operating condition, it will not be acted on by the safety system. However, replacing a pump can be costly and production could be disrupted if the pump cannot perform its normal function. In such a case, the control system can automatically shut off the pump to avoid equipment damage. Modern distributed control systems often make it easier to implement multi-loop control strategies that can be more effective than single loop control in maintaining the plant operating conditions needed to protect process equipment.

Since the cost of implementing advanced control must be justified, in this chapter we will focus on the economic incentive for control system improvement and the areas where advanced control may be required to achieve control system economic objectives. The reduction in process variation that may be achieved using advanced control techniques is often used to increase plant throughput or operating efficiency. However, the economic incentive to reduce process variation and maintain the process at or below an operating limit can also be driven by the need to avoid fines associated with violating limits set by environmental standards.

2.1  Economic Incentive

If a control system can reduce variations in process operation, it is possible to shift the plant to a more efficient point of operation. The economics of plant operation can be impacted by process variation when production is limited by equipment capacity or when maximum production and operating efficiency are achieved at a specific operating condition. When production is process-limited, that is, limited by equipment capacity, maximum production is achieved when the control system minimizes process variations and adjusts operating targets to allow the equipment to be operated closer to its operating constraint. For example, the constraint in the throughput to an exothermic reactor may be the available capacity for heat removal. When maximum production is achieved by maintaining specific operating conditions, the process is referred to as exhibiting a global production maximum. In such cases, any variation from these specific operating conditions will reduce production.

The generation of steam in a boiler is an example of a process that exhibits a global production maximum at a given throughput. The amount of excess air in the flue gas leaving a boiler has a direct impact on boiler efficiency and the cost of steam generation. When the amount of air delivered to the boiler is greater than that required for complete combustion, the excess air leaving the boiler decreases the boiler efficiency because air is being heated in the combustion process. As the amount of air delivered to the boiler is reduced and the excess air level in the flue gas decreases, at some point only enough air will be provided to support complete combustion of the fuel. If the combustion air level is reduced further, unburned fuel will exit the boiler in the flue gas and boiler efficiency will diminish.

As illustrated in Figure 2-1, for a given firing rate the best operating efficiency is achieved at a specific excess air operating point. Excess air is the amount of air in a combustion process greater than the amount theoretically required for complete oxidation. As shown in Figure 2-1, as the excess air varies above or below this point of best operating, the efficiency is reduced, which impacts the profit of plant operation.

Figure 2-1. Operating at Global Production Maximum

Any variation from this operating point will result in decreased operating efficiency (and, it should be noted, possible environmental noncompliance). If the control system can reduce variation in the excess air level, the boiler operating efficiency can be increased. For a given firing rate, the impact of excess air level on boiler efficiency will exhibit a global production maximum.

In boiler control, a measurement of the O2 concentration in the flue gas exiting the boiler can be used as an indirect indication of the boiler’s excess air level. The boiler control system must minimize variation in this key process parameter. If O2 control has not been implemented, variations in the excess air level will occur with changes in the process inputs, such as variations in fuel BTU/lb value or a change in the air density because of a change in the outside temperature. The O2 setpoint in boiler combustion control is often characterized as a function of the load (demand) on the boiler because the most efficient operating point may change as a function of the firing rate, which changes with changes in load. Examples of how advanced control techniques have been applied in boiler control to reduce the cost of steam generation are included in Chapter 13.

We have seen that if a process (such as this steam boiler) is characterized by having a global production maximum, improved operation can be achieved through a control system that is capable of maintaining the process at the best operation point. Note, however, that, even with such a system, operating efficiency can actually be worse if the setpoint is incorrect for the current operating conditions which, in the case of a boiler, may vary with steam demand. In such cases, the setpoint should be set as a function of the operating conditions. For example, the setpoint value can be set as a function of the process throughput. A key point in control system installation and maintenance is that decreasing variability is desirable, but it is also important to specify the operating setpoints needed to achieve best process performance. If this is not done, the benefits of a new or upgraded control system may not be fully realized. The impact of operating at a wrong setpoint value is illustrated in Figure 2-2.

Figure 2-2. Operating Away from the Global Production Maximum

Shifting our attention now to the matter of equipment capacity, when a plant is designed the equipment is sized so that, at the design production rate, the equipment in each area of the plant is operating at near-maximum capacity. If plant production is not limited by the market, that is, if an increase in production can always be sold, revenue may often be maximized by running the plant at maximum throughput. Even so, as plant production is increased above the design production rate, one or more pieces of equipment may become a bottleneck. If production cannot be increased because of an operating constraint such as the physical limit in the equipment, it is often possible to increase plant production without exceeding the physical limit by reducing variation in the process, as illustrated Figure 2-3.

Figure 2-3. Production Maximum at Equipment Physical Limit

As mentioned earlier, the term process-limited is often used to describe the condition where the maximum production of a plant is determined by physical limitations in one or more processes. In such cases, it is important to explore the source of the production bottleneck. That is, which process area or piece of equipment limits plant production? One way to determine this is to discuss the reasons that plant production cannot be increased with the control room operators who are responsible for the minute to minute operation of the plant.

If the control system allows wide variations in the process, the target production rate must be set at a value that ensures that the physical limit of each piece of equipment or process area is never exceeded. Similarly, to avoid exceeding product specification limits, the target values for product quality may be set to avoid exceeding specification limits. For example, by improving the control system to reduce process variation, plant production setpoint may be increased without exceeding the physical limits associated with the process area or equipment that is the plant bottleneck, as illustrated in Figure 2-4. This simple concept of reducing process variation to allow a shift in production rate or quality parameter targets is often the basis used to justify the cost of upgrading or installing a better control system in a plant.

Figure 2-4. Production Maximum at Limit

2.1.1  Ammonia Plant Example

The impact of process variation on plant economics can be illustrated by examining the operation of a typical ammonia plant. The feedstock to an ammonia plant is natural gas, and plants are located in places with an abundance of natural gas. Even though the price of natural gas has recently dropped significantly, it is still a challenge for plants located in North America to compete in the world market, and there is a strong economic incentive to operate these plants in the most efficient manner.

The process flow through an ammonia plant is shown in Figure 2-5. In the primary reformer section, the natural gas feedstock (methane, CH4) is combined with steam