Optimization as a tool for design/control integration

There is a long tradition of the use of optimization techniques to help solve process synthesis and design problems. Advances in optimization algorithms to handle problems involving integer variables, and problems involving dynamic systems with path constraints have recently been exploited to help address issues in the integration of process design and control. Methods, based on optimization, to assess controllability, to select control structures for a given process (the control system synthesis problem) and to develop integrated designs of process and control system for cases where dynamic performance is critical are presented in this paper.