Optimisation and experimental verification of startup policies for distillation columns

Startup of distillation columns is one of the most difficult operations of chemical processes. Since it often lasts a period of time, leads to off-products and costs much energy, optimization of startup operating policies for distillation columns is of great interest in process industry. Most previous studies on column startup have been restricted to theoretical investigations such as modeling, simulation and optimization. Due to the complexity of column startup dynamics, it is impossible for a mathematical model to accurately describe the startup operation. Thus the results of theoretical studies on column startup can hardly be applied directly to real plants. In the last few years, we have accomplished both theoretical studies and their experimental verifications with the purpose of developing optimal operating policies for distillation columns. As a result, significant improvement of startup operation can be achieved by implementing the developed startup policies. This paper summarizes our recent results from these studies.