Dynamic Modeling and Plantwide Control of a Production Process for Biodiesel and Glycerol

Biodiesel productioncomprises several interconnected process stepswith complex dynamic behavior. Dynamic plant modeling and simulationenhance process understanding and enable model-based control. We presenta modular and rigorous dynamic model for biodiesel and glycerol productionby alkali-catalyzed oil transesterification. We share the implementedmodel in Modelica open-source. Moreover, we implement two plantwidecontrol (PWC) structures, where we assume the availability of information-richmeasurements in the first and only conventional measurements in thesecond. To study the process dynamic behavior, we investigate severaldisturbance scenarios, demonstrating the importance of the plantwideperspective. The PWC structure based on an information-rich configurationshows satisfactory control performance, whereas the other fails toalways satisfy product quality requirements, underlining the importanceof developing dynamic models for advanced control and estimation techniques.Moreover, the model can be used as a digital twin for industrial plantsas well as for model-based control and estimation applications.