Robust Estimation and Control of a Batch Hydrothermal Carbonization Reactor

Resumen: In this work, the problem of robustly controlling and monitoring the functioning of an Hydrothermal Carbonization (HTC) batch reactor is addressed. First, the nominal optimal operation is designed by means of dynamical inversion. Then, the application of constructive control with passivity, optimality and detectability notions yields a nonlinear (NL) robust estimator-based output-feedback (OF) tracking optimal controller. From an industrial perspective, the proposed NL OF controller is a control-monitoring (CM) system that tracks the nominal temperature, decides the batch duration, and provides estimates of the physical states and the economic one. The problem is solved within a constructive framework, yielding a CM system design methodology with: (i) systematic construction, (ii) robust functioning, and (iii) a simple tuning scheme. The proposed design is illustrated and tested with a representative example through numerical simulation.

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S. Andrade, J. Alvarez, L. Alvarez-Icaza & L. Samarti. Robust Estimation and Control of a Batch Hydrothermal Carbonization Reactor. Memorias del Congreso Nacional de Control Automático, pp. 166-171, 2021.

Palabras clave

Hydrothermal Carbonization, constructive control, nonlinear dynamics, output-feedback control, nonlinear observer, robust stability

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