In order to optimize the trajectories of the control variables for a product changeover in a two-step oleochemical distillation plant the flowsheet simulator CHEMCAD is coupled via its OPC interface with the programming environment Matlab. After the introduction of the dynamic process model different optimization strategies are introduced, compared, and finally combined to a hybrid optimization framework. The local optimum found with this framework is visualized, analyzed, and interpreted from an engineer’s viewpoint.

Jan C. Schöneberger, Armin Fricke, Dynamic Optimization with a Flowsheet Simulator Using the Example of Minimization of Product Changeover Times, CIT, Volume89, Issue5, Special Issue: Prozessoptimierung, (527-541), (2017)

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/cite.201600115