Nonlinear Model Predictive Control of a Coagulation Chemical Dosing Unit for Water Treatment Plants

The need for processes to be operated under tighter performance specifications and satisfy constraints have motivated the increasing applications of nonlinear model predictive control (MPC) by the process industry. Nonlinear MPC conveniently meets the higher product quality, productivity and safety demands of complex processes by taking into account the nonlinearities and constraints in the processes. This paper examines the application of a nonlinear MPC to a multi-variable coagulation chemical dosing unit for water treatment plants. A nonlinear model of the dosing unit based on mechanistic modelling and identified by nonlinear autoregressive with external input (NLARX) estimator was developed. The simulation of the MPC based control system showed very good performance for set-point tracking and disturbance rejection. The closed loop performance of the nonlinear MPC (NMPC) compares favourably with the unconstrained and linearised nonlinear MPC (LTIMPC). The results of this study shows the suitability of nonlinear MPC for process control in the water treatment industry.