MULTI-STAGE PROCESSES AND CONTROL THEREOF

摘要

A method is provided for controlling a multi-stage process. The process comprises multiple first stage processes for producing an intermediate product from a feed, and multiple further stage processes for producing an end-product from the intermediate products. The first stage processes comprise multiple intermediate processes and the further stage processes comprise multiple end processes for producing the end product. An intermediate controller controls the first stage processes in response to one or more product properties of the end product EP and a further controller FC controls the further stage processes in response to the product properties of the intermediate product. The multi-stage process further comprises the step of assigning process values to each of the end processes and the intermediate processes. The intermediate controller IC controls operation of the intermediate processes to optimize the overall process value for producing the end product. The end controller FC responds to the actions of intermediate controller IC to optimize the overall process value.