OPTIMIZATION AND NONLINEAR MODEL PREDICTIVE CONTROL OF SIMULATED MOVING BED PROCESS WITH MODULATION IN THE FEED CONCENTRATION

The ModiCon process is a variant of the conventional simulated moving bed (SMB) process that consists of cyclic modulation of the feed concentration. In this work, an optimization and control strategy of ModiCon process was implemented. The separation of guaifenesin enantiomers with a modulation pattern of two subintervals was considered as a case study. The best performance was reached when the feed modulation pattern consisted of zero concentration for the first subinterval and maximum concentration for the last one. The nonlinear model predictive control responded satisfactorily to a disturbance in the feed flow rate.