The Chemical Batch Reactor is aimed at tackling the above problems from
a blending of academic and industrial perspectives. Advanced solutions
(i.e., those based on recent research results) to the four fundamental
problems of modeling, identification, control and fault diagnosis for
batch processes are developed in detail in four distinct chapters. In
each chapter, a general overview of foundational concepts is also given,
together with a review of recent and classical literature on the various
subjects.
To provide a unitary treatment of the different topics and give a firm
link to the underlying practical applications, a single case study is
developed as the book progresses; a batch process of industrial
interest, i.e., the phenol-formaldehyde reaction for the production of
phenolic resins, is adopted to test the various techniques developed. In
this way, a roadmap of the solutions to fundamental problems, ranging
from the early stages of the production process to the complete design
of control and diagnosis systems, is provided for both industrial
practitioners and academic researchers.