By Jim Riggs1 In the first article of this series, Jim discussed control relevant issues associated with distillation columns. The second article presented the major disturbances affecting composition control and the importance of properly functioning regulatory controls. The third article discussed the use of product composition measurements in distillation column control and explored single composition […]


By Jim Riggs1 In the first article of this series, Jim discussed control relevant issues associated with distillation columns. The second article presented the major disturbances affecting composition control and the importance of properly functioning regulatory controls. In this article, Jim discusses the use of product composition measurements in distillation column control. He also explores […]


By Jim Riggs1 In the first article of this series, Jim discussed the importance and challenges associated with distillation control and the control relevant issues of distillation operations. Here he continues the discussion by presenting the major disturbances affecting composition control and the importance of properly functioning regulatory controls. Please refer to the previous article […]


By Jim Riggs1 Background Approximately 40,000 distillation columns are operated in the U.S. chemical process industries and they comprise 95% of the separation processes for these industries. Because distillation operation directly affects product quality, process production rates and utility usage, the economic importance of distillation control is clear. Distillation control is a challenging problem because […]