Industrial Technology and Automation

Examples of industrial control systems

Dr.-Ing. George Power Porto

Unit operations
In the chemical, food or other processing industries many similarities exist in the manner in which materials are modified or processed. These seemingly different chemical, physical, or biological processes can be broken down in a series o separate and distinct steps called unit operations. These unit operations are common to all types of diverse processing industries For example, the unit operation distillation is used to separate and purify alcohol in the beverage industry and hydrocarbons in the petroleum industry; evaporation of salt solutions in the chemical industry is similar to evaporation of sugar solutions in the food industry, and so on.
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Classification of unit operations

Fluid flow. Principles of transportation of a fluid from one point to another. Heat transfer. Principles of accumulation and transfer of heat and energy from one place to another. Drying. Removal of volatile liquids like water, from solid materials. Evaporation. Separation of a volatile solvent, like water, from a nonvolatile solute, like a salt. Crystallization. Removal of a solute, like a salt, from a solution by precipitation.
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Absorption. Removal of a component from a gas stream by treatment with a liquid. Adsorption. Removal of a component from a gas or liquid stream by a solid adsorbent. Distillation. Separation of components of a liquid mixture by boiling. Other: - Membrane separation - Liquid-liquid extraction - Liquid-solid leaching - Mechanical-physical operations (size reduction, screening, filtration, sedimentation, etc.)
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Drying
Definition: Separation of volatile liquids, mostly water, from solid materials by evaporation. The term drying can also be applied to the removal of moisture from solvents or gases.
Air in
DRYING

Air out

Solids out

Solids in

Example: Counter-current drying of solids with air

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Drying equipment
Feed Heating coils Rotating drum dryer

Film Dried product

Steamheated drum Flattening roll

Air

Air Rotary dryer with indirect heating

Front view

Dried solids Liquid feed

Feed (liquid or suspension) Scraper

Grain feed Spray chamber

Hot air Spray droplets

Out gases Cyclone Bin Wire mesh

Hot drying air Cooling air Grain discharge 5

Spray dryer

Dried product

Screw conveyor
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Continuous vertical grain dryer

Drying equipment (cont.)

Louvers Fresh air entry Blower

Cart dryer with countercurrent air flow

Humid material Carts entry Air exit Moving carts

Dried product

Carts exit

Granular feed

Air out

Air in

Air flow Steam heaters

Conveyor dryer with cross circulation

Screen conveyor
Source: C. Geankoplis Transport Processes and Unit Operations 3rd Ed.

Blowers Dried product

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Evaporation
Definition: Separation of a volatile solvent, like water, from a solution containing a non-volatile solute, like a salt.
VAPOR

FEED (dilute solution)

EVAPORATION

PRODUCT (concentrated solution)

HEAT

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Evaporation equipment

Horizontal tube evaporator

Source: C. Geankoplis Transport Processes and Unit Operations 3rd Ed.

Vertical tube evaporator

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Evaporation equipment (cont.)

Forced-circulation evaporator Long-tube vertical evaporator

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Source: C. Geankoplis Transport Processes and Unit Operations 3rd Ed.

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Multiple-effect evaporators
For improved efficiency two to five evaporators are connected in series and the vapor released from one evaporation step is used to heat the solution in the next or previous step. The figure shows a simplified diagram of a forward-feed (above) and backward-feed (below) triple-effect evaporator.

Source: C. Geankoplis Transport Processes and Unit Operations 3rd Ed.

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Crystallization
Definition: Separation of a solute (e.g. a salt) from a solution by precipitation, based on the principle of solubility of the salt.
Vapor Solution

Crystallization by cooling

Mother liquor

Solution

Crystallization by evaporation

Crystals

Crystals Example: Crystallization

CuSO45H2O crystals CuSO4 solution 02/09/2013 Industrial Technology and Automation 11

Solubility of inorganic salts in water

When solubility increases with temperature crystallization by cooling is applied, example: KNO3

When solubility increases slightly or decreases with temperature crystallization by evaporation is applied, example: NaCl

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Crystallization equipment

Source: C. Geankoplis Transport Processes and Unit Operations 3rd Ed.

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Absorption
Definition: Separation of a component from a gas stream by contacting this stream with a liquid in which the specific gas is soluble. The gas may also react with the liquid or solution, in this case the operation is known as chemical absorption. The solubility of the gas in the liquid phase decreases with temperature and increases with pressure, so by increasing temperature and/or lowering the pressure the process is reversed.
Source: C. Geankoplis Transport Processes and Unit Operations 3rd Ed.

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Absorption equipment
Typical tower packings Gas outlet

Packed Absorption Tower

Liquid inlet

Raschig ring (glass)

Raschig rings (carbon)

Packing Packing element Raschig ring (ceramic)

Berl saddles

Gas inlet

Liquid outlet Industrial Technology and Automation

Pall rings

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Adsorption
Definition: Separation of one or more components from a gas or liquid stream (the adsorbate) by means of contacting the stream with a solid (the adsorbent), usually in form of small particles in a fixed bed. Typical adsorbents are activated carbon, silica gel, activated alumina, molecular sieve zeolites and synthetic polymers or resins.

Adsorption scheme and isotherms for some solvents in activated carbon

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Adsorption isotherms

Source: C. Geankoplis Transport Processes and Unit Operations 3rd Ed.

Some common types of adsorption isotherms

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Adsorbent regeneration
Temperature or thermal-swing cycle. The adsorbent is heated by a hot purge gas stream to remove the adsorbate. Finally, the bed must be cooled so that it can be used for adsorption in the next cycle. Regeneration time is generally a few hours. Pressure-swing cycle. In this case the bed is desorbed by reducing the pressure at constant temperature. Regeneration time is short compared to temperature-swing cycle. Inert-purge gas stripping cycle. The adsorbate is removed by a nonadsorbing or inert gas through the bed. Regeneration cycle times last usually a few minutes. Displacement-purge cycle. Temperature and pressure are kept constant, but a gas or liquid is used that is adsorbed more than the adsorbate. Cycle times of only a few minutes.
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Distillation
Definition: Separation of a liquid mixture based on the different boiling points (vapor pressure) of the components. Synonyms: Fractioning, topping, rectification.
DISTILLATE (light product)

FEED (liquid mixture)

DISTILLATION

HEAT

BOTTOMS (heavy product)

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Examples of discontinuous distillation

Condenser Vapor Distillate Liquid

Heating

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Scheme of distillation column

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Examples of continuous distillation

Schemes of binary distillation (left) and fractioning distillation of several components (right)
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Distillation equipment

(Top) Typical industrial distillation towers (Right) Cross-section of a binary distillation tower with perforated trays 02/09/2013 Industrial Technology and Automation Detail view of perforated trays with bubble caps

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McCabe-Thiele diagram

Slope = R / (R+D) Slope = q / (q-1)

Graphical method of McCabe-Thiele (1925) for determining the number of theoretical trays of a binary distillation column. R = reflow, D = distillate, q = molar fraction of liquid in the feed
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Control example 1: Evaporator

Variables we might regulate:

Vapor product Liquid feed Steam EVAPORATOR

Feed rate Product rate Operating pressure Operating temperature Liquid level

How many of these can be regulated independently? Similarly, adjustments may be made in order to regulate the chosen quantities in the following variables:

Condensate

Liquid feed Vapour product Steam supply

These questions can be answered using our knowledge of the process. Since there are only three potential adjustments, there cannot be more than three control loops, and hence no more than three manipulated variables.
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Evaporator (contd)
Physics and thermodynamics tell us that certain variables in this problem LC cannot be set independently, and thus cannot be regulated in separate Liquid control loops. Unacceptable feed combinations here are: Note the special form

FC

Vapor product

Steam

Inlet and outlet flows, which must be the same by conservation, and Temperature and pressure, which are related in a single-component two-phase system.

of inventory regulation on the steam heating side using a steam trap, essentially a very small vessel with an internal level control system to allow steam and condensate to separate

(a)
Condensate

TC

Vapor product

FC

This leaves us with three possible control loops, in which the three adjustments regulate:

PC

Liquid feed (b) Condensate

Steam

Temperature or pressure, Feed rate or product rate, Liquid level or holdup

Two common solutions for the evaporator control system 26

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Example 2: Absorption column

In a good composition control scheme the control loops are:

FC

Liquid feed flowrate Column pressure - tops flowrate Bottoms composition - gas input Inventory/level - bottoms flowrate

LIQUID IN

PC

GAS OUT

Poor composition control results from either:

measuring the tops composition and adjusting the gas input, or measuring the bottoms composition and adjusting the liquid input, because of significant time delay between the adjustment and the composition changing to reflect this change.

ABSORBER

GAS IN LC

AC LIQUID OUT

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Example 3: Distillation column

A distillation column is used to separate mixture of liquids and offers an example of a more complex control system. With eight streams and five degrees of freedom, a typical control strategy uses only four of these:

TOP VAPOR Condenser

Cooling water

REFLUX

PC

Reflux drum

LC

FC
DISTILLATION COLUMN

AC

DISTILLATE

FEED TC

RETURN VAPOR

Feedrate Column pressure Top and bottom composition

BOTTOMS LIQUID Reboiler

LC BOTTOMS

The diagram shown is a common but just one of the different possible control configurations.
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Steam

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Example 4: Dryer
Drying refers to the separation of volatile liquids, mostly water, from solid materials, suspensions or solutions by evaporation. What control loops are necessary in a dryer with countercurrent air flow?

TC
Louvers
FRESH AIR ENTRY Heating coils

MC
Blower

MTR

FC
DRIED PRODUCT

HUMID MATERIAL Carts entry

AIR EXIT

Moving carts

Carts exit

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Example 5: Car engine

Operating parameters (inputs)
A/C high pressure side A/C on/off Camshaft position (CMP) Cruise control (CC) Exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) Engine coolant temperature (ECT) Engine start signal Fuel pump voltage Ignition reference:

Regulated systems (outputs)

A/C compressor relay Secondary air injection (AIR) Vapors emission control (EVAP) Cruise speed control (CC) Diagnostics

Crankshaft position Motor speed (RPM)

Inlet air temperature (IAT) Knock sensor (KS) Oxygen sensor (O2S) Park/Neutral switch (P/N) Power steering pressure (PSPS) System voltage Throttle position sensor (TPS) Transmission clutch speed Vehicle speed (VSS) Manifold air pressure (MAP) Mass air flow (MAF)

Engine Control Unit (ECU)

MIL Lamp DLC Lamp

Fuel pump relay Exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) Fuel injectors Idle air control (IAC) Ignition control (IC) Torque clutch converter (TCC)

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Car engine (contd)

Fuel pump Fuel tank Fuel filter Pressure regulator

Coil

Spark plug

Simplified scheme of a car engine control system

TPS

AT

O2S

ZT
M IAC
ECT

FT

TT
JC FC

RPM

FQY

SC

ST AC KY

ECU

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MAF

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