Modeling of Polyvinyl Acetate Polymerization Process for Control Purposes

TEODORA MITEVA; RODRIGO ALVAREZ; NADJA HVALA; DOLORES KUKANJA

Lyon, France

Congreso; 18th European Symposium on Computer Aided Process Engineering – ESCAPE 18; 2008

The research work presented in this paper considers the polymerization process in MITOL factory in Sežana (Slovenia). The challenge is to increase the production rate, while keeping quality parameters at the desired values. For this purpose a model consisting of differential and algebraic equations (DAE) has been already constructed7. The model is intended to take over the role of a soft sensor, being able to provide estimates of the given process outputs. In this paper we derive an extended version of the model in order to reach fully predictive capabilities. By using modeling from first principles (energy balance), the dynamics of the temperature is derived as a function of the concentrations of reacting chemicals. The preliminary simulation results based on real plant data, derived in gPROMS environment, are presented.