Quality control of polymer production processes

For the polymer production industries, the competitive edge will come from the technology that excels in controlling the polymer properties in a consistent way over the entire plant and in maximizing the production performance while keeping safety regulations. Based on the experience in applying advanced process control and scheduling schemes to industrial polyolefin polymerization plants, the state of the art in quality control systems for providing the polymer production plant with an enlarged capacity for product discrimination and flexibility is reviewed. On-line soft-sensing and optimal grade changeover control problems are the main focus of this paper. A quality control system for polymer production plants, which integrates optimal control with on-line sensing and scheduling techniques, is discussed making reference to an application of a prototype system to an industrial plant. (C) 2000 IFAC. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.