Advances in Chemical Process Control and Operation -A view experienced in joint university-industry projects

A state or the arts in Japanese chemical process control is reviewed based on experience in applying advanced process control schemes to several industrial chemical processes. The applications validate model predictive control (MPC), the most popular advanced control scheme in the process control community, as, indeed, a powerful and practical control algorithm. However, at the same time, it is elucidated that MPC can solve only the control algorithm part of the problem and one needs chemical and systems engineering aspects to solve the entire problem. By illustrating several industrial process control problems, the need for chemical engineering aspects as well as the future direction for process control are addressed, especially in light or current attitudes toward product quality.