Synthesis of plantwide control systems using optimization

The design of plantwide control systems has received increasing attention in the past few years. This paper deals with how one can systematically synthesize plantwide control architectures from steady-state process models using optimization. The optimization problem solved is a mixed-integer Linear programming (MILP) problem which aims at minimizing valve movement to compensate for a disturbance. Results are presented for its application to the Tennessee Eastman test-bed process.