TECHNOLOGICAL INSTITUTE OF ACAPULCO.

UNIT OPERATIONS III.

1.1.3. SIMULATION, CONTROL AND OPTIMIZATION OF PROCESSES
Team #3:
Carmona Palomares José Balam.
Rendón Robles Gustavo Germán.
Ing. Carolina Pinzón Magaña.

Acapulco, Guerrero June 29, 2015.

Index

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Introduction..........................................................3

Process simulation..........................4

Process Control.................................9

Process Optimization..........................11

Questions.............................................................12

Conclusion..............................................................13

Bibliographic references...............................14

Introduction
Modeling and simulation of processes using computers have become tools
extremely successful engineering for the design and optimization of physical, chemical processes, and
biological. The use of simulation has rapidly expanded over the past two decades due to
to the availability of high-speed computers. In the chemical processing industry, today in
During the day, nonlinear, large, and realistic problems are typically solved through simulation.
by computer. This means that virtually all engineering calculations are processed
quickly.
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The oil crisis of the 1970s forced the industry in general to focus its efforts on being
more energetically efficient, thus starting a stage of technological development aimed at improvement
the existing processes and to design new ones that are more efficient. This was the necessary breeding ground
to encourage the development in process simulation. The beginning was slow and occurred in a conceptual way,
experimental and academic in some companies and universities in the United States, Canada, and Europe.
By 1975, the development of simulators with some industrial applications had become widespread.
reduced. In 1980, software development companies began to emerge, which developed
simulation packages for marketing, but they had the disadvantage that the input and output of
the information was very rigid and was presented in the form of lists that were difficult to interpret. At the end
In the 80s, the development of interactive simulation packages and their commercialization began.
marked the beginning of a more intensive and widespread use in industry and universities. Between 1991
In 1995, the commercialization of dynamic simulation and energy integration packages began.
In recent years, steady-state process simulation has become a tool of
support for the design of chemical processes and its use is also spreading in institutions of
training of chemical engineers. Process simulation is playing a very important role in
the chemical industry, as a suitable and timely tool for design, characterization,
optimization and monitoring of industrial processes. Even though in its early stages the
process simulation was mainly focused on the petrochemical and refining industry
petroleum, its application has been extending to other industries such as synthetic fuels,
pulp and paper, cement, metals, minerals, food, etc., where the solid phase is involved. The
simulation of chemical processes has involved both stationary process behaviors and
dynamic.

Process Simulation

Process simulation can be defined as a technique to quickly evaluate a process.

based on a representation of it, through mathematical models. The solution of these is
carried out through computer programs and allow for a better understanding of
behavior of said process. The number of variables that appear in the mathematical description of
a chemical processing plant can be as large as 100 thousand, and the number of equations does not
linear equations to be solved can be on the order of thousands, therefore the only viable way to
solving the problem is through a computer.

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Necessary Skills for Process Simulation

The increase in the use of computer simulation techniques has expanded their utility.
scientific approach to engineering. The development of competence in process simulation requires
that the engineer adopts the following skills:

1. Clear Understanding of Engineering Fundamentals.- The engineer must be familiar with the
physical system and its mechanisms to be able to intelligently simulate a real process and evaluate
that simulation. The processes cannot be seen as a black box.

2. Modeling Skills.- The engineer must be able to develop a set of relationships

mathematics that adequately describes the significant behavior of the process.

3. Computational Skills.- Quick and cheap solutions must be obtained for simulation.
processes. The engineer must be able to choose and use the appropriate computational tool. For
real problems, the tool of interest is usually the digital computer.

Application of Process Simulation

Because the simulation falls within a scientific approach to engineering and not in a
empirical approximation has been used to simulate processes in interdisciplinary areas such as
biological engineering and environmental engineering. Engineers have found that simulation has been
capable of making significant contributions to society through successful simulations of systems
biological and environmental. Future efforts will focus on the modeling of political systems and
social. The variety of applications of process simulators is very large; previously, only
They were used by engineers who designed processes, now environmental engineers operate simulators.
process engineers and even plant engineers at their workplace; engineers with little or no
programming instructions can model complex processes. In principle, the simulation of
Processes can be useful at all stages of the development of an industrial project. In the different
stages of a project, there may be a need to conduct simulations at different levels of
sophistication. Process simulation can be used in the following stages of development of a
industrial project:

1. Research and Development. A simple simulation can be used to test technical feasibility and
economic of the project.

2. Critical Stage in Decision Making. Different process alternatives and conditions are tested.
of operation and decisions are made. When a process is economically attractive, it must be tested

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different alternatives for the size and location of the industrial plant and determine conditions of
optimal operation.

3. Pilot Plant. Simulation with more sophisticated models to obtain better estimates of the
operating conditions on an industrial scale. Simulations are a reasonable way to extrapolate the
execution and scaling of processes. Incorporating fundamental mechanisms in simulation of
processes, the execution of the systems can be predicted in new areas of operations and
different.

4. Design. The simulation provides all the process data required for detailed design.
the different teams.

5. Simulation of Existing Plants. It can be very useful when it is necessary to change the conditions of
operation, or when one wants to substitute raw materials.

6. Economic Desirability. For design purposes, it is usually cheap to use techniques of

simulation incorporating fundamental laboratory data into the mathematical model that may be useful
to build pilot plants of different sizes.

7. Characterization of the Process. It is a convenient way to investigate the effects of the parameters of the
system and the disturbances of the process in operation. It is usually very easy to develop
alternative operational approaches and evaluate those alternatives using a mathematical model instead
to do it by experimental methods. To verify the results of the simulation usually
some experiments are conducted, but only the truly critical experiments are
necessary.

8. Understanding of Behavior and Significant Mechanisms of the Process. Proposing

rigorously the mathematical models, the engineer learns a lot about the process that is
being simulated. To achieve a successful simulation, qualitative descriptions must be provided of the
significant mechanisms of the process. Resolving the model, useful relationships between the process and the
team variables are revealed and can be easily observed.

The simulation of chemical processes is a modern tool that has become indispensable for the
appropriate solution to process problems. It allows for the analysis of chemical plants in
operation and carry out the following tasks, which are common in the various fields of
chemical industry

Detection of bottlenecks in production.

Prediction of the effects of changes in plant operating conditions and capacity.
Optimization of the operating variables.
Optimization of the process when the characteristics of the inputs and/or the conditions change
market economics.
Analysis of new processes for new products.
Evaluation of process alternatives to reduce energy consumption.
Analysis of critical operating conditions.
Transformation of a process to develop other raw materials. Feasibility analysis and
feasibility of new processes.

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 Optimization of the process to minimize the production of waste and pollutants.
Training of operators and process engineers. Feasibility research of
automation of a process, etc.

Commercial Process Simulators

There is a wide variety of commercial process simulators, some of which are powerful.
calculation tools in industrial processes, with enormous databases and strong backing of
libraries for equipment calculations and model libraries for thermodynamic calculations, which provide you
The simulator has the advantage of great versatility. Some of these purpose-driven process simulators
general are:

Aspen Plus and Speedup (from Aspen Technology, USA)

2. Pro II (of Simulation Sciences, USA)

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3. Hysys (from Hyprotech, Canada)

4. Chemcad (from Chemstations, USA)

Most of them are steady-state process simulators, which can be expanded to the
simulation of processes in transient state (dynamic simulation) with the addition of a module (the
dynamic module) that is obtained separately. A very important aspect in simulators of
Processes, it is the availability of the different equipment used in the process industry, as well as the
availability of thermodynamic and transport properties of the process streams. The
properties are essential for carrying out mass and energy balances to the extent that if you
they had good data or good correlations for the properties, then the results of the
simulations would be highly reliable. Modern simulators must allow the selection of the
models of thermodynamic properties suitable for the nature of chemical components,
state of aggregation and operating conditions.

Limitations

There are some defined limitations of process simulation of which the engineer must be aware.
conscious. These include the following:

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Lack of good data and lack of understanding of process mechanisms - the success of simulation
processes strongly depend on the basic information that the engineer has available.

2. The nature of computational tools - there are certain types of sets of equations that
they still have great difficulties to be solved by numerical methods. These include some
non-linear algebraic equations and certain non-linear ordinary and partial differential equations.

3. The danger of forgetting the assumptions made in process modeling - this can lead to
to place a lot (or little) emphasis on certain outcomes.

General Strategy for Process Simulation

The general strategy for the simulation of complex processes follows a well-defined path that consists of
of the common sense steps given in the accompanying block diagram. Note that the information
travels in both directions, indicating the adaptive nature of the development of some simulation
successful.

Definition of the Problem

Mathematical Modeling of the Process
Organization of Equations
Calculations
Interpretation of the Results

Process control

Manual control emerged simultaneously with the first industrial processes, playing a role
preponderant on the part of the operator, usually responsible for the manual operation of the
control devices (e.g., opening and closing of valves; "off-line" measurements of variables of
process; etc.). The second level had its heyday with the development of digital technology, the sensors "in
"line", digital communications, etc. The emergence of PLCs (in the early 1970s),
allowed the implementation of the first digital controllers with combined effects (proportional
+ integral + derivative). The development of communications, of better interfaces (graphic) with the
user, and small computing systems (PCs), along with the gradual reduction of their costs,
enabled the implementation of advanced control algorithms, distributed control systems (DCS) and
control supervisor (SCADA). More details about these types of systems can be consulted through
example in Amy (1992). With the advent of increasingly powerful computing systems and
greater data support capacity allowed the operation of the process (or the plant) to take place in a form
interrelated with information from diverse sectors of the company, allowing integration
data coming from the production, administrative, maintenance, sales, etc. sectors. Thus,
The decision regarding the operation of the entire company (including the specific process) can be commanded.
directly from the management levels. Moreover, decisions can be made not only by
an isolated company, but rather a group of companies with a common interest or productive policy.
Finally, the total automation expected at level V practically does not exist today (except for
possibly for small-scale applications or ventures, and relatively isolated from
other ventures). However, the trend is to achieve this maximum level of automation.

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Classification of process control systems

Level Name Types of control and main characteristics

V Automation Systems integrated computer scientists, minimum
in total human intervention, control and decision in charge
of the system.
IV Hierarchical Advanced control systems, databases,
reconciliación de datos
relationship with economic/financial factors,
systems of computationpowerful (mainframe)
expert systems and artificial intelligence
III Advanced Graphical interfaces, man/machine interfaces,
Computer control, control algorithms,
digital communications by radio and telephone.
II Classic Online measurements, analog communications
and digital, closed-loop automatic control,
dynamic simulation, digital devices,
digital interfaces (displays)
I Manual Manual actuation organs, absence of
online measurements, interfaces with the operator
nonexistent o inadequate devices
analogous.

Basic notions about process control

A process is a set of operations - simultaneous or sequential - that produce transformations.

of a physical and/or chemical nature. Every process interacts with the rest of the environment through
the output variables, of the manipulated variables, and of the disturbances.

A process is (automatically) controlled when there are operational components (the controllers)
that allow receiving desired setpoint values in such a way that the variables of
output automatically evolves towards those specified values, even in the presence of
external disturbances.

Process optimization

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The optimization of a process is nothing more than defining an objective function and determining the best of
design variables.

Optimization requires solving simulation problems at each iteration.

Optimization is an essential tool in the design of a process.

Types of Optimization Problems Types of Optimization Problems (Deterministic, State

Stable) (Deterministic, Steady State)

* Linear Programming (LP)

Mixed Integer Linear Programming (MILP)

Non-Linear Programming (NLP)

Mixed Integer Nonlinear Programming (MINLP)

Optimization Techniques

Simplex Methods and Interior Points (LP)

Branch and Bound (MILP)

Active Set Strategy, SQP (Sequential Quadratic Programming) (NLP)

Outer Approximation and Benders Decomposition (Benders (MINLP))

Questions

1.- How is process simulation defined?

Process simulation can be defined as a technique to quickly evaluate a process.
based on a representation of it, through mathematical models.

2.- Mention three process simulators used in industries

Aspen Plus and Speedup (from Aspen Technology, USA)

2. Pro II (of Simulation Sciences, USA)

3. Hysys (by Hyprotech, Canada)

4. Chemcad (from Chemstations, USA)

3.- What is process optimization?

The optimization of a process is nothing more than defining an objective function and determining the best of
design variables.

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Conclusions
Simulation facilitates the objectives of modern design: A) Design to achieve manufacturing.
at a competitive cost. B) Design in order the actual utilization in service. C) Design well the first time
attempt.
Simulation saves time and money, both in the design of new plants and in
optimization of the existing ones.
The initial cost of the simulation is high (software and computing equipment) but in the long run, it is profitable and
recoverable investment.
Knowledge in transport phenomena, thermodynamics, and unit operations is required.
so that the person using the simulator can interpret the results.
Simulators facilitate students' learning and their tasks.

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Bibliographic References.

Martínez V. H. et al. "Simulation of Processes in Chemical Engineering", Ed. Plaza y Valdéz, 1st ed.
Chapter 2, 2000. ISBN 968-856-755-8
Scenna N. J. et al. "Modeling, Simulation, and Optimization of Chemical Processes", Chapter 5 and 6.
1999 Law A. M. and Kelton W. D., 'Simulation modeling and analysis', Ed. McGraw Hill, 3rd Ed.
Chapter 1. 1999
García G. J. M. et al. "Anthology of the Process Engineering Course II", PAIQ of the UACQ of the
UAZ., Chapters 3 – 7, 2008
Chung C. A. “Simulation Modeling Handbook; A Practical Approach”
ISBN 0-8493-1241-8
Luyben W.L., 'Process Modeling, Simulation and Control for Chemical Engineering', Ed. Mc Graw
Hill, 2nd Ed., Chapters 4 and 5. 1999 ISBN 0-07-039159-9.
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