Nonlinear control of high purity distillation columns

Abstract

Two simple models of distillation columns are studied to investigate their suitability for the practical use with exact I/O-linearization. An extension of exact I/O-linearization, the asymptotically exact I/O-linearization is applied to the control of a high purity distillation column, using one of these models to derive the static state feedback law. Simulation studies demonstrate the advantage of asymptotically exact I/O-linearization versus classical exact I/O-linearization techniques. Experimental results show the excellent performance of asymptotically exact I/O-linearization using a simple distillation model.