Modeling and adaptive pole-placement control of LDPE autoclave reactor

A two-compartment four-cell model is developed for the adiabatic autoclave slim type reactor for free radical polymerization of low density polyethylene(LDPE). The mass and energy balances give rise to a set of ordinary differential equations, and by analyzing the system it is possible to predict properly not only the reactor performance but also the properties of polymer product. The steady state multiplicity is found to exist and examined by constructing the bifurcation diagram. The effects of various operation parameters on the reactor performance and polymer properties are investigated systematically to show that the temperature distribution plays the central role for the properties of polymer product. Therefore, it is essential to establish a good control strategy for the temperature in each compartment. In this study it is shown that the reactor system can be adoptively controlled by pole-placement algorithm with conventional PID controller. To accomplish a satisfactory control, the estimator and controller are initialized during the period of start-up.