section is not forced to operate at significantly different load conditions,
which could lead to turndown or flooding problems.
From a dynamic viewpoint, whenever all flows in a recycle loop are
set by level controllers, wide dynamic excursions can occur in these
flows because the total system inventory is not regulated. The control
system is attempting to control the inventory in each individual vessel
by changing the flowrate to its downstream neighbor. In a recycle loop,
all level controllers see load disturbances coming from the upstream
unit. This causes the flowrate disturbances to propagate around the
recycle loop. Thus any disturbance that tends to increase the total
inventory in the process (such as an increase in the fresh feed flowrate)
will produce large increases in all flowrates around the recycle loop.
Fixing a flowrate in a recycle stream does not conflict with our discussion
of picking a dominant reactor variable for production rate control
in Step 4. Flow controlling a stream somewhere in all recycle loops is
an important simple part of any plantwide control strategy.
Gas recycle loops are normally set at maximum circulation rate, as
limited by compressor capacity, to achieve maximum yields (Douglas
doctrme).
Once we have fixed a flow in each recycle loop, we then determine
what valve should be used to control each inventory variable. This is
the material balance step in the Buckley procedure. Inventories include
all liquid levels (except for surge volume in certain liquid recycle
streams) and gas pressures. An inventory variable should typically be
controlled with the manipulated variable that has the largest effect on
it ,,~thin that unit (Richardson rule). Because we have fixed a flow in
each recycle loop, our choice of available valves has been reduced for
inventory control in some units. Sometimes this actually eliminates
the obvious choice for inventory control for that unit. This constraint
forces us to look outside the immediate vicinity ofthe holdup we are considering.
For example, suppose that the distillate flowrate from a distillation
column is large compared to the reflux. We normally would use distillate
to control level in the reflux drum. But suppose the distillate recycles
back to the reactor and so we want to control its flow. What manipulator
should we use to control reflux drum level? We could potentially use
condenser cooling rate or reboiler heat input. Either choice would have
implications on the control strategy for the column, which would ripple
through the control strategy for the rest of the plant. This would lead
to control schemes that would never be considered if one looked only
at the unit operations in isolation.
Inventory may also be controlled with fresh reactant makeup streams
as discussed in Step 4. Liquid fresh feed streams may be added to a
location where level reflects the amount of that component in the prot