Best of breed control of platinum precipitation reactors

Abstract

An existing batch precipitation reactor in the mining industry was modelled from first principles using MATLAB S-function language and wrapped into Simulink custom blocks. The model was validated with open loop simulations to evaluate the response to step changes in the model inputs. Two PID controllers with different parameters were implemented on the model at different operating points and their temperature control performance was evaluated based on their ability track a temperature of the industrial reactor as a set-point. The performance of the controllers was measured and compared using an integral time-domain performance measure. A commercial advanced process controller (APC) was implemented on the model, a communication interface between the model in Simulink and the commercial controller was developed with Industrial Data Xchange (IDX); an OPC client and server.