Opportunities for Rule-Based Control in the Fertiliser Industry

This paper covers the background to the novel LINKman rule based controller developed by Blue Circle for use in the cement industry. The application has been highly successful in this instance and the developers believe that the technology has a wide application outside the cement industry.

The technology is based on the concept of modelling the operator rather than the process. Hence, wherever plant performance in terms of quality, yield and/or energy usage is dependent upon the operator, there is a potential opportunity for applying LINKman type technology. The technology also has the ability to handle multivariable control problems with ease. Of course there needs to be adequate added value to merit the practical application of LINKman.

In the Fertiliser Industry, compound granulation is a very operator dependent process in terms of both quality and yield. The possible application of LINKman type technology to this aspect of fertiliser manufacture is considered.

Lastly, some of the future developments for LINKman are outlined.

David Haspel, Image Automation Ltd, London, UK.

32 Pages, 11 Figures, 4 Tables.