Reparametrized ARX models for predictive control of staged and packed bed distillation columns

This work is aimed at the development of reparametrized ARX type models for high dimensional and distributed parameter systems. To keep data length small while identifying a model with ARX structure, the feasibility of reparametrizing ARX models using the fractional order differential operators and orthonormal basis filters is explored. The identified noise model is further used for developing a novel observer based MPC scheme, which explicitly uses the identified unmeasured disturbance model for the future trajectory predictions. The efficacy of the proposed modeling technique and the MPC scheme is demonstrated by conducting (a) simulation studies on a staged distillation column and (b) experimental evaluations on a laboratory scale packed bed distillation column.