Towler, G & Sinnott, R 2008, Chemical Engineering Design: Principles, Practice and

Economics of Plant and Process Design, Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford.

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All process equipment has an identification number

All pipes have a number line (including size and material)
All valves, control valves and block valves should have identification
number
Valve type can be shown by symbol of in the code

Most control valves are actuated by pneumatic signals using instrument

air. Better in situation where electrical signal causes safety issues.
Motor actuators are used for larger valves
Digital solenoid actuators used for valves that are switched from open to
closed.

Process lines are drawn as solid lines and are usually thicker.

Locally mounted: displayed in the plant near the sensing instrument

Main panel: located on a panel in a control room (most would be in
control room unless the plant is really small)
Shared display: operator interface (eg. computer) that displays
information from a number of sources.

First letter: is the property being measured

Second letter: indicates the function

AH = Alarm high, AL = Alarm low
C, D, G, M, N, and O are not defined and can be used for anything
S as a second letter is a switch
Y as a second letter indicates a relay

Valve Selection
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Two types: shut-off (to close off flow) or control valves (regulate flow)

For shut-off purposes, the valve should give a positive seal and have
minimum resistance to flow when open. Use gate, plug or ball valve.
Gate valves are available in the widest range of sizes. Operated by motor
manually. Straight through flow channel and low-pressure drop. Used for
infrequent operations as lots of turns needed to fully close. DO NOT
OPERATE PARTIALLY OPENED causes deformation of seal.
Plug and ball only require turn to open/close, usually accentuated by
solenoids. Used when quick open/close is needed.
For flow control, requires smooth control over full range of flow. Globe
valves are normally used (or less commonly diaphragm). Butterfly used
for control of gas and vapor flows.
Automatics control valves are usually globe valves with special trim
designs.
Valves need to be properly sized to avoid flashing hot liquids.
Non-return valves used to prevent backflow. Swing type-check valves rely
on gravity to close the valve.
PIPE SIZING FOUNF ON PAGE 265

Objectives
o 1. Safe plant operation kept in safe operating limits, detect
dangerous situations (alarms or automatic shutdown),
o 2. Production rate
o 3. Product quality
o 4. Cost
Basic rules
o 1. Identify control loops needed for steady state operations: level,
flow, pressure and temperature control
o 2. Identify variables that need to be controlled to achieve quality
(choose dependent variable)
o 3. Identify control loops for safe operation
o 4. Show ancillary instruments needed for monitoring and
troubleshooting
o 5. Decide locations of sample points
o 6. Decide whether instruments will be local or tied into the plant
computer control system. Also decide on actuator (electrical or
pneumatic) and if it needs to record data
o 7. Decide on alarms and interlocks
Other rules

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o
o
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o
Level
o
o

There can only be one control valve on any given stream between
unit operations
Pressure control is more responsive
Two operations cannot be controlled at different pressures unless
there is a valve/restriction between them
Temperature is usually controlled by controlling the flow of a utility
control
Level controller needed where a liquid-vapor interface (or liquidliquid) needs to be maintained. Control flow in/out
Control valve should be placed on the discharge of the pump

Pressure control
o Needed for vapor/gas systems
o For (a) if the gas is toxic/valuable, vent to scrubber not to
atmosphere

Flow control
o Associated with inventory units (eg. tanks)
o Need a reservoir to take up changes in flow rate

Heat Exchangers
o If the flow rate needs to be constant a bypass might be needed
o Temperature control is usually ineffective for condensers (unless
liquid is subcooled) so a pressure control is used instead or the
control is based on the outlet coolant temperature

Temperature control useless for vaporisers too. Level control used

instead to control the steam supply (shown below). Increase feed>level increases->steam flow rate increases

Cascade control
o Output of one controller used to change the set point of another.
Used where direct change of the variable can be unstable (eg.
temperature is measured, but rather than changing the
temperature of the reactor, the flow rate into the reactor is changed
instead)

Ratio control

Reactor control
o If product composition can be monitored continuously, reactor
conditions and feed flows are controlled automatically
o Operator only sets points based on periodic lab analyses
o For large reactor, temperature is controlled by recycling some of the
product stream or adding inerts as a heat sink

Alarms, Safety trips and Interlocks

o Visual and audio alarms placed on control panels
o Where late operator intervention causes safety hazards, a trip
system is put into place to take action instead
o Automatic trip system consists of:
1. Sensor to monitor the control variable and provides a
signal when the value exceeds a limit
2. A link to transfer the signal to an actuator (pneumatic or
electric relay)
3. An actuator which carries out the required action
o Can be incorporated into control loops, but the control equipment is
less reliable so if the danger is highly hazardous, it is better to have
a separate trip switch

Interlocks are used to prevent operators from departing from a

required sequence (eg. during startup and shutdown)

Smith, CL 2010, Advanced Process Control, John Wiley & Sons, Hoboken, New
Jersey.
Cascade control
- Benefits include faster response and more consistent performance
- Simple feedback: Temperature emitter inputs to the temperature controller
which opens the flow control valve (this performance is not as good
compared to cascade which has a faster response time, but faster wear
and tear in the long term)
- Temperature-to-flow cascade: Temperature emitter input to temperature
controller, which then inputs to a flow controller which then opens the flow
control valve
- Temperature-to-temperature cascade: Temperature emitter inputs to
temperature controller, which inputs to another temperature controller
which opens the flow control valve
Reactor
- Respond to changes in temperature set point
- Respond to changes in feed flow rate, and feed temperature
- Performance of the controls at high heat transfer rates and low heat
transfer rates

Luyben, WL, Luyben, ML 1997, Essential Process Control, McGraw-Hill

International, Singapore.
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Basic control loop consists of a sensor, a transmitter (which converts the

measurement from the sensor to a signal, a controller that compares the
signal to a set point and produces an output to a controller.
The sensor, transmitter and control valve usually located on the process
equipment (in field), whilst the controller is usually on a panel or in a
computer in the control room
The controller set point can be changed manually by the operator during
startup/shutdown
Each controller must do the following:
o 1. Indicate the value of the controlled variable
o 2. Indicate the value of the signal being sent out
o 3. Indicate the set point
o 4. Have a manual/automatic/cascade switch
o 5. Have a knob to set the set point when on auto
o 6. Have a knob to set the signal when on manual
Sensors
o Flow: Orifice plate the most common. Measure pressure drop.
Turbine meters can also be used, they are more accurate but more
expensive. Others include sonic flow meters, magnetic flow meters
rotameters, vortex shedding devices and pitot tubes.
o Temperature: Thermocouples are the most common. Ironconstantan thermocouples used for 0-1300 F. Filled-bulb and
resistance thermometers are used, the latter being used when
accuracy is important.
o Pressure: Bourdon tubes, bellows and diaphragms used

Level: Can use a float and follow its position, measuring the weight
of the vessel or measuring the differential in static pressure
between the vapor space and liquid
Control Valves
o Fail open or shut dependent on safety (eg. want steam/fuel to fail
shut, but cooling water to fail open)
o AC = Air-to-close, AO = Air-to-open
Controllers
o On/Off control: Either maximum or zero flow. Rarely used in
continuous process due to cycling nature of the response
o Proportional controller: Changes if error signal changes (eg. if the
temperature changes it will adjust the valve to a new position).
Usually the best type for level control
o Proportional-integral (PI) controller: Same as above but eliminates
steady state error
o Proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controller: Used in loops where
signals arent noisy or quick responses are needed. Usually used for
temperature controllers in reactors
Flow loops
o PI controllers used in most flow loops
o Changes in flow are sensed quickly. The control valve dynamics are
the slowest part
Level loops
o Proportional controller typically used to give smooth changes and
fewer fluctuations
Pressure loops
o Tight pressure loop is where the controller is directly connected to
the control valve to release/close -> quick response
o Loose pressure loop is where the controller changes some other
variable which in turn affects the pressure
Temperature loops
o Moderately slow due to sensor lags (time taken for heat transfer)
Ratio control
o The flow rate of the uncontrolled stream is measured, and the flow
rate of the manipulated stream is changed
o Feedforward control structure
Cascade control
o Contains two feedback controllers; master and slave
o Output of the secondary controller goes to the valve
o Two purposes: 1. To eliminate effects of disturbances. 2. Improve
dynamic performance of the control loop
Override control
o The manipulated variable is set by a controlled variable rather than
by a point set by the operator
o Useful where quick reaction is needed
o Can be used to monitor multiple temperature locations along a
reactor to find the peak
o Also used where a ratio of two different feeds are required and too
much of one could cause an explosion (ie. flow rate needs to be less
than some critical amount relative to the other flow). Here you
would have multiple flow measurements and the highest one used
for control, and if the flow between two points exceed some value
the system is shut down
o Mainly used for safety reasons
Feedback controller
o Error detected in controlled variable before the action is taken
o Disturbances upset the system before anything is done to fix it
Feedforward controller
o

Measure disturbances in the feed and correct it before it upsets the

process
Control system design concepts
o 1. Keep the control system simple, the fewer pieces of hardware the
better
o 2. Use feedforward to compensate for large, measurable
disturbances
o 3. Use override control to operate at or to avoid constraints
o 4. Keep feedback loops small (have fewer things between whats
measured and where the control valve is)
o 5. Use proportional-only level controls where the absolute level is
not important to smooth out disturbances
o 6. Eliminate minor disturbances by using cascade control where
possible
o 7. Avoid control loop interaction if possible, try to make one tight
and the other loose instead (sacrifices must be made)
o 8. Check if everything will still work at abnormal conditions (eg. low
flowrates, change in weather/seasons). Compensate for
larger/smaller valves due to these variations
o 9. Avoid nesting control loops: where the operation of the external
loop depends on the operation of the internal loop
Plant-wide control
o Start with material balance control structure
o Manipulated variables are typically the utility streams
o