Design of adaptive linearizing controllers for fixed bed reactors

This paper deals with the design of adaptive linearizing controllers of process components at the output of fixed bed reactors. The control design is based on the distributed parameter model of the process (late lumping). It takes advantage of the well-known part of the (nonlinear) structure (basically the hydrodynamics) and does not require the knowledge of the kinetics, which are estimated on-line. Two examples are considered : the control of the concentration of one process component and of the gas production rate.