Control of reactive distillation through the multiple steady state conditions

In this paper, the controllability of reactive distillation (RD) on the multiple steady states (MSS) was analysed. We used the RD column for tert-amyl methyl ether (TAME) synthesis for a case study. The model was prepared five PI controllers which control liquid level, feed flow rate, pressure of column overhead and bottom product composition. Initial conditions of dynamic simulation were chose three cases each of upper, middle and lower branches on the MSS. Product composition was controlled for the ±10 % disturbances of feed flow rate and reflux ratio. However, pressure disturbance was failed to keep the set point. These phenomena are able to explain the bifurcation diagrams.