Optimization of reactive distillation processes using self-organizing migrating algorithm and differential evolution strategies

Abstract

A procedure for optimal determination of measured variables in chemical processes is presented This procedure is based on quantifying the trade-off between the process information that can be obtained and the total cost of the sensors making up the measurement system. The evolutionary algorithms Self-organizing Migrating Algorithm (SOMA) and the Differential Evolution (DE) are applied to find the minimum total analyzed cost of the nonequilibrium reactive distillation of Batch reactor. The SOMA algorithm is further used for static optimization of a chemical reactor to improve its parameters and consequently its dynamical behavior. DE was used for a comparison alongside SOMA. The results show that the optimized objective function values are better than those reported in the literature, and mostly independent of the number of trays and of the reaction distribution.