The Dynamic Behavior and Control of the Methanol-Toluene Distillation Column

Abstract

In this study, the dynamic behavior for two control methods of the distillation column for the separation of methanol and toluene mixture are studied. The experimental responses of temperature in each tray of distillation column for step changes in set point of reboiler, reflux ratio, and feed weight fraction are obtained. This is based on a derived mathematical model. Simulink simulator of the distillation column is used to implement the PID and fuzzy logic control methods. The comparison between the two controllers is done for step changes in set point, feed flow rate, feed weight fraction, and liquid reflux. The controller performance is measured depending on the mean square error and integral square error. The results show that the performance of the fuzzy controller is better than of the PID controller in fast access to the desired value and to cancelling the disturbances.