(96a) Using Advance Control to Monitor Plant Performance and Economics

With thousands of applications and over a forty-year track record, multivariable predictive control has become the gold standard for advanced process control within the processing industries. Using a dynamic model of the process unit, multivariable predictive control can simultaneously optimize unit operation while maintaining strict control of key operating constraints. Yet as ubiquitous as these controllers are, they are largely under the influence of the control or advanced control engineer and provide little feedback to the process engineer or operations manager whose involvement is critical for continuous improvement of the plant.

This presentation discusses techniques for bridging this knowledge gap by providing operational insights and analytics using information obtained from the multivariable predictive controller. Included are techniques to monitor and assess lost opportunity costs, equipment constraint violations, and the plant operating envelope.