Coupling Performing Numerical Libraries and Detailed Simulators to Accurately Infer/Reconcile Stack Emissions of Incinerator Systems

The paper deals with the integrated solution of different model-based optimization levels to practically face the problem of inferring and reconciling on-line plant measurements under the condition of poor or no redundancy in measures due to lack of instrumentation installed by the field. The proposed solution requires (I) the development of a detailed process simulation, (II) the introduction of adaptive parameters to match the current process conditions as well as to make the approach generalized for plants having the same layouts, and (III) the need of coupling the adaptive simulation with efficient and robust optimizers to reconcile data, estimate adaptive parameter, and optimize plant operations. The online feasibility has been validated on a large-scale sulphur recovery unit of an Italian oil refinery selected as incinerator system.