Method for assessing the effect of design parameters on controllability

The interaction between design and control can offer significant opportunities for dynamic performance improvement if one is willing to consider building and operating a chemical process at other than the steady-state economic optimum. This paper describes a method that a process designer could use to identify design and control parameters that could be used to improve the controllability of a process. The method relies upon designed experimentation in two separate steps, The first step uses steady-state information as a screening tool to filter the important factors from the many possible design factors. The second step uses dynamic simulation and provides more details about how the design and control decisions affect; the ultimate dynamic performance in the presence of disturbances and production rate changes. The capital and operating costs of the various designs are calculated to indicate the economic penalty for designing and operating at other than the steady-state optimum. Three examples are provided to illustrate the method and to develop several design heuristics.