Design and implementation of a control structure for quality products in a crude oil atmospheric distillation column

In recent years, interest for petrochemical processes has been increasing, especially in refinement area. However, the high variability in the dynamic characteristics present in the atmospheric distillation column poses a challenge to obtain quality products. To improve distillates quality in spite of the changes in the input crude oil composition, this paper details a new design of a control strategy in a conventional crude oil distillation plant defined using formal interaction analysis tools. The process dynamic and its control are simulated on Aspen HYSYS^® dynamic environment under real operating conditions. The simulation results are compared against a typical control strategy commonly used in crude oil atmospheric distillation columns.