Design and control of a p-xylene oxidation process

The p-xylene (PX) oxidation process is of great industrial importance because of the strong demand of the global polyester fiber. A steady-state model of the PX oxidation has been studied by many researchers. In our previous work, a novel industrial p-xylene oxidation reactor model using the free radical mechanism based kinetics has been developed. However, the disturbances such as production rate change, feed composition variability and reactor temperature changes widely exist in the industry process. In this paper, dynamic simulation of the PX oxidation reactorwas designed by Aspen Dynamics and used to develop an effective plantwide control structure, which was capable of effectively handling the disturbances in the load and the temperature of the reactor. Step responses of the control structure to the disturbances were shown and served as the foundation of the smooth operation and advanced control strategy of this process in our future work.