CAST Communications Fall 2000—VOL. 23 NO. 2 … Communications Fall 2000—VOL. 23 NO. 2 CAST Communications VOL. 23 NO. 2 Fall 2000 CAST (Computers and Systems Technology) is a

CAST Communications Fall 2000—VOL. 23 NO. 2

CASTCommunications

VOL. 23 NO. 2 Fall 2000

CAST (Computers and Systems Technology) is a division of the AIChE (American Institute of Chemical Engineers)

Table of Contents

Editorial NotesAbout This Issue, Karl D. Schnelle and Peter R. Rony ............................................................................................................ 3We Need Your E-Mail Address, Karl D. Schnelle ................................................................................................................... 3

ArticlesProcessCity.com Takes off, by Su Ahmad................................................................................................................................ 4A Visit to ProcessCity.com: Thirty-Three Discussion Forums, by Peter Rony. ......................................................................... 8What is the Internet Paradigm, by Einar (Stef) Stefferud .......................................................................................................16

CommunicationsLarry Biegler is selected as the CAST 2000 Computing-in-Chemical-Engineering Award Recipient, by Peter Rony ..............18John Ayala is selected as the CAST 2000 Computing Practice Award Recipient, by John T. Baldwin ....................................19Mayuresh V. Kothare wins the Ted Petersen Student Paper Award for 2000, by Peter Rony...................................................20How to Contact the AIChE.....................................................................................................................................................23CAST10 E-Mail List..............................................................................................................................................................23

Meetings, Conferences, Congresses, and Workshops .........................................................................................................24

Up-To-Date Meetings are now listed at www.castdiv.org

AdvertisementsProcessCity.com...................................................................................................................................................................... 7Superpro, Intelligen, Inc. .......................................................................................................................................................17CAST Communications Advertising Policy.............................................................................................................................20Turn-Key Training, ControlStation ........................................................................................................................................22Join the CAST Division of AIChE. ........................................................................................................................................252001 Award Nomination Form. .............................................................................................................................................26

www.castdiv.org


CAST Division of AIChE - 2000 Executive Committee

Elected MembersPast ChairLorenz T. BieglerChemical Engineering DepartmentCarnegie Mellon UniversityPittsburgh, PA 15213-3890Phone: 412-268-2232Fax: [email protected]

ChairHerb BrittAspen Technology, Inc.10 Canal ParkCambridge, MA 02141-2201Phone: 617-949-1341Fax: [email protected]

First Vice-ChairJames F. DavisAssociate Vice ChancellorInformation TechnologyProfessor Chemical EngineeringUCLABox 951405Los Angeles, CA 90095-1405Phone: 310-206-0011Fax: [email protected]

Second Vice-ChairJohn T. BaldwinDepartment of Chemical EngineeringTexas A&M UniversityCollege Station, TX 77843Phone: 409-260-5020Fax: [email protected]

Secretary/TreasurerScott E. KeelerDow AgroSciences, 308/1F9330 Zionsville RoadIndianapolis, IN 46268-1054Phone: 317-337-3138Fax: [email protected]

Directors 1998-2000Urmila M. DiwekarEnvironmental InstituteCarnegie Mellon UniversityPittsburgh, PA 15213-3890Phone: 412-268-3003Fax: [email protected]

James J. DownsEastman Chemical CompanyP.O. Box 511Kingsport, TN 37662-5054Phone: 423-229-5318Fax: [email protected]

Andrew N. HrymakDept. of Chemical EngineeringMcMaster UniversityHamilton, Ontario L8S 4L7CANADAPhone: 905-525-9140 x23136Fax: [email protected]

Directors 1999-2001Christodoulos A. FloudasDepartment of Chemical EngineeringPrinceton UniversityPrinceton, NJ 08544-5263Phone: 609-258-4595Fax: [email protected]

Babu JosephChemical Engineering DepartmentWashington UniversitySt. Louis, MO 63130-4899Phone: 314-935-6076Fax: [email protected]

Directors 2000-2002Michael P. HaroldDuPont CompanyCentral ResearchExperimental Station, E001/229Wilmington, DE 19880-0101Phone: 302-695-4292Fax: [email protected]

Vincent G. GrassiAir Products and Chemicals, Inc.7201 Hamilton Blvd.Allentown, PA 18195Phone: 610-481-6377Fax: [email protected]

Ex-Officio MembersDivision Programming ChairMichael F. MaloneDepartment of Chemical EngineeringUniversity of MassachusettsAmherst, MA 01003-3110Phone: 413-545-0838Fax: [email protected]

CAST Division ProgrammingVice-ChairLorenz T. BieglerChemical Engineering DepartmentCarnegie Mellon UniversityPittsburgh, PA 15213-3890Phone: 412-268-2232Fax: [email protected]

Area 10a: Systems and Process DesignProgram Coordinator for 2000Urmila M. DiwekarDept. of Engineering and Public PolicyCarnegie Mellon UniversityPittsburgh, PA 15213-3890Phone: 412-268-3003Fax: [email protected]

Program Coordinator for 2001Ka M. NgDepartment of Chemical EngineeringUniversity of MassachusettsAmherst, MA 01003-3110Phone: 413-545-0096Fax: [email protected]

Program Coordinator for 2002Luke E. K. AchenieDepartment of Chemical EngineeringU-222University of Connecticut191 Auditorium RoadStorrs, CT 06269-3222Phone: 860-486-2756Fax: [email protected]

Area 10b: Systems and Process ControlProgram Coordinator for 2000Ahmet N. PalazogluDepartment of Chemical Engineeringand Materials ScienceUniversity of CaliforniaDavis, CA 95616-5294Phone: 530-752-8774Fax: [email protected]

Program Coordinator for 2001Jorge A. MandlerAir Products and Chemicals, Inc.7201 Hamilton Blvd.Allentown, PA 18195-1501Phone: 610-481-3413610-481-4948 (FAX)[email protected]

Program Coordinator for 2002Jay H. LeeSchool of Chemical EngineeringGeorgia Institute of Technology778 Atlantic Dr.Atlanta, GA 30332-0100Phone: 404-385-2148Fax: [email protected]

Area 10c: Computers in Operations andInformation ProcessingProgram Coordinator for 2000Conor M. McDonaldDupont LycraBarley Mill PlazaBMP25-2361Wilmington, DE 19880-0025Phone: 302-992-2442Fax: [email protected]

Program Coordinator for 2001Paul I. BartonDepartment of Chemical EngineeringMIT 66-464Cambridge, MA 02139Phone: 617-253-6526Fax: [email protected]

Program Coordinator for 2002Iauw-Bhieng (Bing) TjoaMitsubishi Chemical Research &Innovation Center44 Castro St.Suite 505Mt. View, CA 94041Phone: 650-694-7922 x116Fax: [email protected]

Area 10d: Applied Mathematics andNumerical AnalysisProgram Coordinator for 2000Anthony N. BerisDept. of Chemical EngineeringUniversity of DelawareNewark, DE 19716Phone: 302-831-8018Fax: [email protected]

Program Coordinator for 2001Prodromos DaoutidisDepartment of Chemical Engineering andMaterial ScienceUniversity of MinnesotaMinneapolis, MN 55455-0132Phone: 612-625-8818Fax: [email protected]

Program Coordinator for 2002Radhakrishna Sureshkumar (Suresh)314A Urbauer HallDepartment of Chemical EngineeringWashington UniversitySt. Louis, MO 63130Phone: 314-935-4988Fax: [email protected]

AIChE Operating Council LiaisonJeffrey J. SiirolaEastman Chemical CompanyPO Box 1972Kingsport, TN 37662-5150Phone: 423-229-3069Fax: [email protected]

Other MembersPublications Board ChairPeter R. RonyDept. of Chemical EngineeringVirginia TechBlacksburg, VA 24061Phone: 703-231-7658Fax: [email protected]

Associate EditorKarl D. SchnelleDow AgroSciencesBldg. 306/D29330 Zionsville RoadIndianapolis, IN 46268-1054Phone: 317-337-3140Fax: [email protected]


Editorial Notes 3

EDITORIAL NOTES

About This IssueBy Karl D. Schnelle ([email protected]) and PeterR. Rony ([email protected])

In the last issue, we talked about how the Internet willchange the manner in which higher education will beconducted in the near future. So in the Fall 2000newsletter, we want to switch to a process industry view ofthese changes. In fact, one change has already happened,as process-oriented Internet portals are already on-line.One such website is discussed in this issue in"ProcessCity.com Takes Off" by Su Ahmad, and in "A Visitto ProcessCity.com: Thirty-Three Discussion Forums", bythe Editor. Any CAST member who has visited this site orany other "computer and systems technology" portal isinvited to email their comments or reviews to the Editors.We would be happy to receive news and reviews of otherportals. For instance, what do you think aboutMyPlant.com, an e-business venture of Honeywell? Do youhave any tips for use, or has anyone found usefulinformation from these new types of knowledge sources?Please give us your feedback.

A significant portion of this newsletter is devoted to AspenTechnology's ProcessCity.com portal. Their discussionforums provide, in principle, a wonderful, new opportunityto include recently graduated chemical engineers into ourprofession. We hope that chemical engineering faculty andCPI managers will encourage young engineers to takeadvantage of, and participate in, these types of forums.

Also in this issue, it is that time of year again to pay tributeto the accomplishments of our 2000 CAST award winners:Prof. Larry Biegler received the Computing in ChemicalEngineering Award, John Ayala was awarded theComputing Practice Award, and Dr. Mayuresh Kotharereceived the Ted Petersen Award. Be sure to fill out anomination form for 2001, which can be found in the backof the newsletter. We have provided lengthy stories aboutour three award winners to educate those readers who wantto learn about significant achievements in our field.

To kick CAST Communications itself into the Internet age,we are moving some sections on-line exclusively. For thisreason, this issue may seem a bit thinner than usual. Toeliminate 1/3 of the bulk, the "Meetings, Conferences,Congresses, and Workshops" section is now only on-line atwww.castdiv.org. The advantages are reduced postagecosts, "near real-time" updates of meetings andconferences, and live links to all the websites so that themeetings are "only a click away". Furthermore, we haveposted a presentation by Einar Stefferud on the website; ashort introduction is included in this issue.

We Need Your E-Mail AddressBy Karl D. Schnelle ([email protected])

This is the first issue of CAST Communications that isdistributed concurrently in print and on-line. One of thereasons that we are hesitating to publish solely onwww.castdiv.org is that 25% of our members have notsupplied their e-mail addresses to AIChE. So that one doesnot have to check the website every week for the next issue,the Editors would like to send an e-mail announcementwhenever a new issue is published, but we also do not wantto miss a significant percentage of our readers.

So if you are in that 25%, please proceed towww.aiche.org/membership/community.htm and registerfor the AIChE On-Line Community. Select Click Hereto Register Now!, if you have not already done so. You’llneed your unique AIChE membership number handy. Call800-AIChemE (800-242-4363) if you’ve forgotten it.Then select Member Directory and View/Update YourOnline Directory Listing. In this way, AIChE and CASTwill have your up-to-date e-mail address. Then twice ayear, we will e-mail you as soon as the new issue isavailable on-line.

For those curious people, here is the current year 2000breakdown (%) by top level domain name (7% were other):

COM

EDU

NET

CA

JP

KR

ORG

GOV

59 19 7 2 2 1 1 1

The CAST10 e-mail list has a new address.See page 23.

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.castdiv.org/



http://www.aiche.org/membership/community.htm


4 Articles

ARTICLES

ProcessCity.com Takes Off!By Su Ahmad, VP, Internet Business Group,ProcessCity, Aspen Technology, Inc.

Even before Internet browsers became commonplace,chemical engineers and others in the process industrieshave wanted an online place to meet, share ideas, search forinformation, gain access to a variety of engineering tools,

communicate with industry experts, and look for newdirections in their career. Now, such a community exists: aplace for all individuals in or related to the processingindustry, from engineers to students and CEOs, a virtualcommunity of people with similar interests and businesschallenges.

ProcessCity.com is a collaborative Internet portal forprocess industry professionals. It provides engineersinformation and technical tools including: industry-specificnews and events, professional discussion forums, onlineengineering applications, career guidance and employmentinformation, company profiles, consultant and solution-provider expertise.


Articles 5

ProcessCity is not just for engineers or technologists, butall individuals related to the process industries. If you arein planning, marketing, or project management in theprocess industries ProcessCity has relevant industrymaterial and expertise that can help you get your workdone. If you are a student or just starting out in yourcareer, you can network and make contacts online.Whether you think of ProcessCity as a knowledge-sharinghub or a ‘digital dashboard’, there is always something ofvalue brought directly to you at your desktop.Launched this past February, ProcessCity is sponsored byAspenTech and leverages its position in the processindustry with deep process knowledge, chemicalengineering expertise, proven integrated solutions and keycustomer and business relationships. The site is notAspenTech centric; it is a neutral site open to all companiesand individuals regardless of their affiliation. There is nocost for users to join or use ProcessCity. The site alreadyhas thousands of unique users and dozens of solutionprovider and consultant listings. Visitors to ProcessCity

can access an extensive events directory tailored to theneeds of process industry professionals.

A key differentiator for the site is its discussion forumsection, where well known industry experts moderatediscussions. ProcessCity currently has over 25 activediscussions forums led by industry experts and recentlylaunched “private” discussion areas where confidentialdialogue can take place amongst user groups. There is apowerful and vital role for professors and researchers toplay on ProcessCity. They are the highly talented experts,luminaries, and forward-thinking individuals that are theintellectual “glue” holding together professionalcommunities. Industry professionals and students alikelook to them for expertise, advice and for setting newdirections in the industry. Similarly, business leaders willbe much sought on ProcessCity for their insights into the“real-world” workings of the industry and where theybelieve fortunes will be made and lost.


6 Articles

There are some tremendous plans already in progress forthe future direction of ProcessCity, which will be launchedin the early fall. Planned enhancements includepersonalized capabilities, a significantly expandedmarketplace providing software models and othertechnology, as well as, offering some tools on an ASP basis,and further expansion of “private” discussion groups.

We invite all of you to come and join us in this onlinecommunity, to make the most of the tools and resourcesavailable and contribute to make it a richer place toexperience the process industries.

Solution-providers, consultants, and experts can join onlineat www.processcity.com, by going to the “Workplace”section and selecting the “Add Resources” option.

Don't forget to look at your website,www.castdiv.org.

http://www.processcity.com/

www.castdiv.org


Adverstisement 7


8 Articles

A Visit to ProcessCity.com: Thirty-threeDiscussion ForumsBy Peter Rony

Once introduced to the website, www.processcity.com , wedecided to visit the site and to explore its features. On thehome page, the left-hand frame provided six main choices:

We decided to visit the Discussion Room, clicked on theselection, and encountered four additional choices --Discussion Home, four Business Forums, one CareerForum, and twenty-eight Technical Forums. TheDiscussion Home page is shown in Figure 2 in thecompanion "ProcessCity.com Takes Off" in this issue. Weclicked on Technical Forums, which contained informationabout the technical topics available as of August 7, 2000:

ALL TECHNICAL TOPICSAdvanced Process ControlComputational Fluid DynamicsComputing & Information TechnologyCustom Modeling Using PC ApplicationsDynamic Modeling & Operator TrainingEnvironmental Technology IssuesGeneral Technical Discussion ForumKinetics, Catalysis & Reactor DesignKnowledge ManagementMolecular ModelingNeural Net & Related TopicsNumerical Methods and OptimizationOpen Standards for Technical Data ExchangeSoftware InteroperabilityPlant Engineering & DesignPolymer TechnologyProcess Engineering & DesignProcess Instrumentation & ControlProcess Modeling & SimulationProcess Monitoring and Data AnalysisProcess Safety & ReliabilityProcess Synthesis & Process Integration

Product R&DProduction ManagementProduction Planning & SchedulingSeparations TechnologySupply Chain TechnologyThermodynamics & Physical Properties

A more detailed description of these forums follows.

Forum Name: Advanced Process ControlModerator: Frank DoyleThe aim of this discussion forum is to promote a dialogueamongst industrial engineers, vendors, and academicresearchers in the broad area of advanced process control.For the purposes of this discussion forum, we consideradvanced control to consist of strategies and algorithmsapplied at the level above the basic regulatory controlsystem. As such, it would naturally include model-basedschemes (e.g., model predictive control), as well asnonlinear control, and optimization-based strategies.Application oriented discussion is encouraged, rangingfrom single unit control designs to plant-wide control.

The discussion topics that are encouraged in this foruminclude, but are not limited to:

Large-scale issues in model-based control designBenchmark control studiesNonlinear versus linear model-based control;Extensions of basic MPC algorithmControl-relevant process model developmentNovel applications of advanced control in biosystemsController performance monitoringIntegration of control with fault diagnosisIntegration of control with planning/schedulingIssues in batch-to-batch control

Forum Name: Computational Fluid DynamicsModerator: Richard FarmerCo-Moderator: Andy HrymakThe purpose of the computational fluid dynamics (CFD)forum is to expedite the application of CFD to chemicalprocess analysis by identifying current capabilities andfuture research needs. The spectacular success ofcomputational aerodynamics deceived CFD specialists intooptimistically believing that all transport phenomenaproblems could be solved numerically. However, due to thewide diversity of flow problems within the processindustries, a realistic assessment of current CFDmethodology can only be made with respect to specificapplications and individual needs. Opinions andsuggestions are sought for guiding our discussion in such away as to avoid becoming mired in the multitude ofvaluable CFD analyses which have already been made.

http://www.processcity.com/


Articles 9

The major benefit of CFD is avoiding geometry andtemporal simplifications when representing physicalphenomena. Our challenge is to provide thethermodynamic, chemical reaction, turbulence, multi-phase, and rheological submodels to utilize CFD forprocess analysis. Existing solution algorithm availabilityand computer capability are excellent and will onlyimprove. While some participants are interested inimproving the methodology, others will simply wish toutilize what is already available. Our discussions shouldaddress both of these interests.

Forum Name: Computing & Information TechnologyModerator: Mike WhiteThe goal of the Computing & Information TechnologyDiscussion Forum is to provide a frank, controversial andopen exchange about the technologies, products, companiesand people that will enable the next generation businessmodels. Software technologies are moving at a rapid paceand at the same time the technical choices for executingbusiness strategies are expanding. As the internet emergesas a key enabler of business communities and changescustomer/supplier roles one of the greatest challenges willbe to map clearly defined e-business strategy to e-commercesoftware execution. The Computing & InformationTechnology Discussion Forum will allow participants toexplore the future relevance of these technologies. The keyelement of success for all companies is choosingtechnologies that will survive.

Forum Name: Custom Modeling Using PC ApplicationsModerator: Lee PartinOur mission is to share techniques for easily creatingcustomized models in the chemical industries. Engineersand scientists often need to understand processes orproducts in R&D, engineering, manufacturing or marketingarenas. PC software is commonly applied. There areseveral software options for this purpose such as flowsheetsimulators, spreadsheets, mathematical software, statisticalpackages and compilers. Often, the engineer or scientistmust customize the software or link software together toobtain the desired calculations. Some examples include:

Adding new functionality to Microsoft Excel such as datasmoothing or the integration of reaction kinetics.Applying the capabilities of a mathematical package likeMathSoft’s Mathcad to quickly implement thecalculations of a journal article.Using a symbolic math program such as Maple to completea research task most efficiently. Combining the numericalcapabilities of Fortran with an Excel spreadsheet or VBuser interface.

Please join us as we assist each other with finding the bestmethods of quickly modeling a wide variety of tasks.

Forum Name: Dynamic Modeling & Operator TrainingModerator: Graham GriffithsThe mission of the Process City Dynamic Modeling andOperator Training discussion group is to provide a creativeforum for professionals to discuss a wide range oftechnology and business issues relevant to this subject area.Typically, we would expect topics to include:

Dynamic modeling - algorithms and analysisGeneral solution Methods/TechniquesSequential Modular v Equation Oriented approachCommunicationsInterfaces to Control SystemsGeneral software issuesInstructor interfaces and toolsEngineer interfaces and toolsIntegration with other technologiesProject managementOperator/Instructor Training coursesCost estimation, …

The idea is to encompass all aspects of the subject, not justleading edge topics. Contributors should feel able to freelyexplore ideas with their colleagues and to seek solutions orassistance to particular problems that they have. Thisforum is intended to address the needs of practicingengineers, academics, students, managers, businessdevelopment people and others interested in this area.Please feel free to make suggestions and/orrecommendations for improvements as to how the forum isconducted.

This forum will only be as good as the contributions thatget posted - good questions stimulate good answers. So, ifyou need to know something about Dynamic Modeling orOperator Training, this is your chance to ask theprofessionals. Don't delay, post your question now.

Forum Name: Environmental Technology IssuesModerator: Gary BennettThe environmental field offers a plethora of interesting(and often controversial) topics for discussion, i.e., globalwarming, acid precipitation, etc. As interesting as thesetopics are, I would prefer to limit this site to a discussion ofenvironmental (pollution control) methods, opportunitiesand successes. Several examples of questions I suggest fordiscussion are listed below:

What are the potential control and removal methods forMTBE in groundwater?How can mercury be removed from flue gasses?What is new in Brownfield Remediation?What do you suggest be included in the SuperfundRevisions?


10 Articles

Forum Name: General Technical Discussion ForumModerator: Open CommunityThis is an unmoderated open area for anyone to startdiscussions around technical topics, as contrasted tobusiness or career topics. These could include engineeringquestions, health and environmental controls, informationtechnology in the process industries, new developmentswith specific types of equipment, instrumentation andcontrol issues, or any other technical or technology-relatedtopic. This forum is open to all questions or ideas relatedto technical topics, not just leading edge topics.Contributors should feel able to freely explore ideas withtheir colleagues and to seek solutions or assistance toparticular problems that they have.

Forum Name: Kinetics, Catalysis & Reactor DesignModerator: Scott FoglerThe purpose of this discussion forum is to exchangeinformation on chemical reaction engineering. Theexchange will include, but not be limited to:

Professional needsEducational pedagogy on the teaching of reactionengineeringCollection of websites that have databases and informationon kineticsDiscussions on future directions of reaction engineeringTechnical questions on reaction engineeringNovel examples of reaction engineeringStandalone lessons and exercises on chemical reactionengineering

Forum Name: Knowledge ManagementModerator: Karl WiigThe Knowledge Management Discussion Forum providesan environment to explore and present workable andbusiness-valuable approaches to managing knowledge andother manifestations of Intellectual Capital (IC). Thepremise is that enterprise performance is a direct result ofthe quality of personal and structural knowledge and theeffectiveness by which it is leveraged. Consequently,explicit and systematic Knowledge Management (KM) hasbecome a management initiative in many organizationsalthough knowledge has always been managed implicitlywhere people have worked together.

The forum will address general questions such as the onesoutlined below but will particularly encourage discussion ofmore specific topics as well. It is anticipated that the forumwill serve two purposes:

Discussion of how KM in whole and in parts can bepursued effectively under different conditionsExploration of how KM best can serve enterpriseobjectives

Many questions arise when explicit and systematic KM isconsidered and might be pursued in the KM DiscussionForum. General examples include:

How do we become more successful through adopting KM?How are business objectives supported by different KMapproaches?Which practical KM approaches work?What types infrastructure supports (such as IT support)are effective?How should KM be managed and governed?Which methods exist to obtain feedback on theeffectiveness of KM?What are workable KM implementation programs?How should KM activities be matched to how people useknowledge in work?How can we assess the value of our Intellectual Capital?

Forum Name: Molecular ModelingModerator: Peter CummingsModerator: Phillip WestmorelandThe Molecular Modeling Discussion Forum is intended toaid the science, applications, and infrastructure issues ofputting molecular modeling to use in processes. Reactant,intermediate, and product properties are of obvious value,but in process development, qualitative trends can be aswell. These results are of interest in product and processdesign, in interpretation of analytical data, and indeveloping and protecting intellectual property.

The range of questions and resources of interest is broad,encompassing:

Technical questions by specialists and non-specialistsStrategic and management questions common to bothgroupsIssues in molecular simulations, quantum chemistry, andtheir hybridsCommercial, government, and academic modeling codesComputing platform and operating systemsInterfaces with information technologies, e.g. Combinatorial methods QSAR/QSPR High-throughput screening Bio and chemoinformatics

Information about meetings and resources of interest,such as through the AIChE Computational MolecularScience and Engineering Forum.


Articles 11

Forum Name: Neural Net & Related TopicsModerator: John GuiverCo-Moderator: Paul TurnerThe aim of this discussion forum is to create anenvironment for engineers in the process industries todiscuss the application of neural networks and otherempirical modeling technologies. We would like toencourage both advocates of neural net technology, and,just as importantly, skeptics, to use this forum as anopportunity for conducting an informed, constructive andhonest debate.

The discussion can include (but is not limited to):

General application areas - inferred measurements, multi-variable controllers, sensor validation, datareconciliation, data analysis and othersSpecific process applications such as polymer inferentials,bio-process modeling, NIR analyzers, and othersAdvances in architectures, objectives, and trainingalgorithms that specifically relate to the processindustriesDynamic modeling - architecture, signal design, modelidentification, and model-based controlOnline adaptation of modelsHybrid modeling and other interplays with first principlesmodels

Forum Name: Numerical Methods and OptimizationModerator: Larry BieglerThe discussion forum on numerical methods andoptimization is devoted to the following topics:

Advances in methods for scientific computing for processapplicationsAdvances in optimization methods for continuous anddiscrete variable problemsDifficulties of current methods on classes of processapplicationsInfluence of problem formulation on performance ofnumerical algorithms

Forum Name: Open Standards for Technical Data Exchange and Software InteroperabilityModerator: Tom TeagueThe Open Standards for Technical Data Exchange andSoftware Interoperability discussion forum will promote anopen industry discussion about the need for the globalprocess industry to rapidly develop and deploy practicalelectronic technical data exchange and softwareinteroperability standards.

Most companies suffer significant cost and scheduleinefficiencies in their work processes because thesupporting software is not data-integrated or interoperable.Technical and business data must be manually transferred

across the many "islands of automation" that prevail withinand across process industry companies today. Differentsoftware packages are used with costly manual interventionor custom software solutions to solve integrally relatedtechnical problems. Effective electronic technical dataexchange and software interoperability standards wouldallow automated data transfers and calculation integrationbetween the myriad of software, databases and companiesin the process industry. Effective standards could enablethe industry to achieve significant cost and schedulereductions in work processes, achieve a significant advanceinto concurrent engineering practices, and allow internet-based electronic commerce solutions between variousparticipants in the process industry supply-chain. Whilethis problem has been recognized for some years now, for anumber of reasons, the development of process industrystandards in this area over the last 8 years have beenagonizingly slow.

Possible topics of discussion include:

Discuss progress and status of current ISO standardseffortsDiscuss progress and status of CAPE-OPEN and OPCsoftware interoperability standardsDiscuss how can the technical people close to this problemget process industry senior management to actively engageand help solve this problem more rapidlyDiscuss how can the standards development processes beimproved and speeded up to get to a comprehensive,deployed set of standards quicklyDiscuss the cooperative development of an XML processengineering vocabulary for internet/intranet solutionsBrainstorm ways of how the industry can work jointly tosolve this problem to the benefit of all.

Forum Name: Plant Engineering & DesignModerator: Jim MaddenThe Forum will promote the identification and wideradoption of the best methods of plant design and helpdesigners in all disciplines to make their contribution toimproving the economic performance, safety andenvironmental acceptability of process plants.

The Forum will encourage the free exchange of experience,technique and ideas amongst the members of the plantdesign and operating community, by providing an open,multi-discipline and non-hierarchical environment where:

Ideas and experience can be contributed and validated in aprofessional and constructively critical but non- judgmentalatmosphere free from hostility.Individuals from all plant disciplines, whether in industryor academe, can join in to contribute or to learn.A consensus can be created to recognize good practicesconsidered worthy of wide dissemination.


12 Articles

Any topic can be raised and, by common consent, becomean individual subject for focused discussion.Recognized expert individuals can, by common consent,lead discussion of the focused topics.Creative thinking on old and new problems can bestimulated.

The Forum will succeed if the design techniques andvalidated experience emerging from the discussions proveworthy of acceptance in the leading process industrycompanies.

Forum Name: Polymer TechnologyModerator: Kyu Yong ChoiThe purpose of the Polymer Technology forum is to providea way for researchers in the area of polymer processtechnology to communicate and share new ideas, data,opinions, research problems and other relevant informationto the polymer technology. The topics to be posted fordiscussion should be of interest to other researchers outsidethe requestor’s organization. Initially, this forum will beopen to those who have the vast interest in polymerizationprocess technology. In the future, the scope of the forumwill be expanded to accommodate more diversified topics.

Possible initial questions, problems and discussion points(Examples):

What will be the new directions for the polymer processR&D in the next 5-10 years?What will be the major R&D goals for polymerizationprocess technology?What will be the impact of internet/information technologyon the polymerization process research anddevelopment?What changes in undergraduate/graduate educationshould be made, if necessary, to have students prepared forthe challenges in the polymer industry?

What will be the future of metallocene catalyst basedpolymerization technology?What computational tools should be developed to advancepolymerization process technology?What new disciplines/technology will impact the polymerindustry in the next several years? For example, what willbe the impact of computational fluid dynamics (CFD)technology on the polymer industry? Examples ofapplications?What will be the role of process modeling and simulationtechnology in advancing polymerization processtechnology?

Forum Name: Process Engineering & DesignModerator: Art WesterbergCo-Moderator: John BaldwinOur mission is to improve how engineers design processes.Viewing design broadly, we invite discussions on suchtopics as modeling and simulation, insights for supportinginnovation and creativity, formulation of proper designgoals, organizing and sharing information and supportingsocial issues such as collaboration. As several of the otherforums within Process City specialize on topics that are apart of or closely related to process engineering and design,we shall strive to cover issues that extend across or are atthe interfaces among these more specialized topics.

Some initial issues:

How can we best educate chemical engineers to understandthe impact of business decision making on design?Designing the best technical product is only a small part ofbringing a new process on stream. Other issues are how tointroduce the product(s) to the market, how to price them inview of the competition, how to finance the design, wherein the world to build the new process, etc.How much new design and how much retrofit design isindustry really undertaking at this time?Assuming computing hardware and software will each beabout 100 times faster over the next decade, what will bethe future for simulation and optimization tools? Can wecontinue to add more and more detail to models and stillsolve them reliably?What are all the goals that companies have for a process?How does one “test” how well a proposed design meetseach of these?What are some of the experiences industry is having insetting up virtual teams (for example, around the world)?

Forum Name: Process Instrumentation & ControlModerator: Harold WadeThe mission of the Process Instrumentation and Controldiscussion group is to provide a forum for discussion andexchange of information related to instrumentation andcontrol equipment and practice in the process industries.The environment of process instrumentation and controlsystems is changing rapidly, as is the role of theinstrumentation/control systems engineer, driven by rapidtechnological changes and by the rush to both horizontaland vertical integration with other systems. A sharing ofmutual experiences will be beneficial to all.

Discussions based upon actual experience is welcome,although unwarranted negative comment directed towardany vendor, product, institution, technique or individual isnot. Also, this is not a forum for overt commercialism. Asuitable, but non-exclusive, list of topics include:


Articles 13

Design, evaluation, selection, application, installation,maintenance and performance of sensors and finalactuators and control systemsOpen communication standards for real timeinstrumentation and control systemDesign, application, performance and maintenance ofconventional and advanced regulatory control strategies, astypically implemented with standard tools of a DCS or PLCComparative experiences with other control technologies,including advanced process control, neural nets and fuzzylogicFactors related to HMI for process control systemsInterface to higher level systems, such as advanced processcontrol and ERP systemsThe changing role of the instrumentation and controlsystems engineer in the light of current technology and thevertical integration of instrumentation and control intohigher level systems

Forum Name: Process Modeling & SimulationModerator: Warren SeiderThis forum focuses on two topics:(1) process simulation as implemented in the flowsheetsimulators, and(2) process modeling, on a stand-alone basis, as well as foruse with the process simulators.

Issues under process simulation involve the architectures ofsteady-state and dynamic simulators, and the incorporationof optimization algorithms. Included are sequentialmodular, simultaneous modular, and equation-orientedarchitectures.

The areas under process modeling include:

Equilibrium and conservation models involving linearalgebraic and nonlinear equationsTransport and kinetic models involving ODEs and DAEsProcess optimization models

Issues associated with both topics include the role ofspreadsheets (e.g., EXCEL), symbolic mathematicspackages (e.g., MATHEMATICA), stiff ODE and DAEsolvers (e.g., ODEPACK and DASSL) and the associatedindex problem, finite-element PDE solvers (e.g., PDECOL)and the associated adaptive-grid algorithms, homotopy-continuation algorithms (e.g., PITCON), bifurcationpackages (e.g., AUTO 97), singularity theory, and packagesfor display in multidimensional coordinates.

Forum Name: Process Monitoring and Data AnalysisModerator: John MacGregorCo-Moderator: Dora KourtiHistorical data collected routinely on most processesprovide a potentially valuable source of information for

improving process operability and product quality. Theproblems of interest in this forum include:

The exploration and analysis of historical data forprocess troubleshooting and improvementProcess monitoring and fault diagnosisThe development of soft sensors/inferential modelsExtraction of information from multivariate sensorsOther novel ways of using process data

Both empirical and fundamental model based approachesare of interest. Empirical modeling approaches mightinclude latent variable models based on partial least squares(PLS) and principal component analysis, neural networksand genetic algorithms. However, emphasis must clearlybe on the problem and not the algorithm.

Forum Name: Process Safety & ReliabilityModerator: Ian SuttonThe mission of this forum is to discuss how riskmanagement techniques can improve the safety, reliability,and profitability of process plants. The forum will includediscussions on the latest developments in safety regulationsfrom around the world.

Forum Name: Process Synthesis & Process IntegrationModerator: Antonis KokossisCo-Moderator: Robin SmithThe mission of this discussion group is to provide a forumto discuss conceptual design methods, modeling techniques,and optimization applications in the area of ProcessSynthesis and Process Integration. The development of alayout (“synthesis”) is a major task that requires theselection of the appropriate processes (i.e. distillation asagainst extraction), the appropriate units (i.e. bubblecolumn as against a counter-current reactor), and theappropriate interconnections amongst the units (i.e.allocation of recycles, sequencing of units).This forum is intended to address the needs of practicingengineers, academics, business and design managers, R&Dmodelers, and others interested in this area. Please feel freeto make suggestions and/or recommendations forimprovements as to how the forum is conducted.

Application areas include: 1. Reactor design 2. Reaction-separation systems 3. Energy efficiency 4. Separation 5. Reactive-separation 6. Utility networks 7. Environmental design 8. Synthesis of novel chemicals 9. Flowsheet integration and optimization


14 Articles

Modeling and optimization technologies include:

Conceptual approaches and conceptual optimizationMathematical programming techniquesStochastic optimization techniquesCommercial tools and applications

Forum Name: Product R&DModerator: Kevin JobackThe research and development of new chemical products isessential to the process industries. However, much of theemphasis to date has been on "how" we make products noton "what" products we should be making. This emphasis isparticularly evident in the lack of software tools for"product" simulation and design as compared with theabundance of tools for "process" simulation and design.

Today's chemical products must be developed underincreasingly stringent constraints. Solvents, lubricants,adhesives, plastics, and heat transfer fluids must all havehigher performance while having low environmentalimpact, low toxicity, be inherently safe, and be incompliance with innumerable government regulations. Inaddition the market lifetimes of many chemical products,especially pharmaceuticals and agricultural chemicals, arebeing dramatically shortened. Fortunately, advances incombinatorial chemistry, molecular modeling, and propertyestimation now enable scientists and engineers to quicklyscreen large numbers of candidate products.

This forum provides a means for exchanging questions,answers, comments, and advice on the research anddevelopment of new products. The topics discussed mayrange from the particular impact of new regulations orscientific discoveries to the broad philosophies of newproduct development. Of particular interest is howcomputer technology is improving the product discoveryprocess.

Forum Name: Production ManagementModerator: Pat BellThe primary intent of this ProcessCity discussion forum isto facilitate an open collaborative environment fordiscussing key issues pertaining to production managementbusiness process functions in process manufacturingfacilities. Specifically, the forum's goals are to helpdevelop a common understanding of the role of the keyproduction management business processes in optimizingprocess facilities, to provide examples of typical currentpractices, current best practices, and true potential for theproduction management business process functions. Thekey business process functions included in the productionmanagement knowledge domain are:

Process Order & Directives Management Product Blending Order & Directives Management

Process Recipe Management Plant Inventory Management Process Recipe & Transition Execution Material Movements Execution Product Blending Execution & Optimization Product Classification Production Accounting Offline Plant & Enterprise Data Resolution & Reconciliation Feedstock & Product Quantity & Quality Tracking Genealogy Planned/Scheduled/Actual Variance Analysis Key Performance Indicator & Value Added Analysis

Forum Name: Production Planning & SchedulingModerator: Ignacio GrossmanCo-Moderator: Conor McDonaldThe mission of the Process City Production Planning andScheduling discussion group is to provide a forum todiscuss modeling, optimization techniques and strategiesfor the planning and scheduling of multiproduct batch andcontinuous processes.

This forum is intended to address the needs of practicingengineers, academics, students, business and logisticsmanagers, R&D modelers, and others interested in thisarea. Please feel free to make suggestions and/orrecommendations for improvements as to how the forum isconducted.

The topics in this forum will typically include:

Multiperiod production planning for continuous and batchplantsPlanning for capacity expansionShort term scheduling for batch plantsCyclic scheduling for continuous plantsReactive schedulingScheduling for new product development (agriculturalchemicals, pharmaceuticals)Planning and scheduling under uncertaintyPlanning and scheduling for supply chain optimizationMixed-integer optimization techniques (MILP, MINLP)Constrained logic programming (CLP)Stochastic optimization techniques (simulated annealing,genetic algorithms)Computer softwareApplications for refineries, chemical processes, polymerplants, specialty chemicals, pharmaceuticals and foodmanufacturing, steel plants, paper processing, utility plants,oilfields, and other plant-centric industries


Articles 15

Forum Name: Separations TechnologyModerator: George KellerThe purpose of the separations forum is to provide a wayfor researchers and practitioners in this area tocommunicate and share new ideas, data, opinions,economic information and other relevant information.Discussion topics should be:

Broad enough to be interesting to a wide group of peopleFocused on information that is truly new and likely to be ofhigh impact and of commercializable qualityThese are admittedly difficult criteria, but without somequality-control guide of this sort, we are likely to beswamped with relatively trivial, niche-filling and low-impact stuff

The field of separations should be taken as quite broad. Itobviously includes separations involving organic chemicals;bio-materials; aqueous systems; hydrometallurgicalmaterials; gases; multi-phases including gases, solidsand/or liquids; etc. Ideas should always include informedspeculations on where and how a particular idea could haveimpact. Economic insights are always greatly appreciated.

Forum Name: Thermodynamics & Physical PropertiesModerator: Stanley SandlerThe goal of this discussion forum is to promote a dialoguebetween engineers, scientists and academic researchers inthe broad area of thermodynamics and its application intraditional and nontraditional areas relevant to thechemical and pharmaceutical industries. While all areas ofthermodynamics are open for discussion, this forum is notmeant to be a substitute for the technical support providedby process simulation companies.

The discussion topics that are encouraged in this foruminclude, but are not limited to:

The development of new thermodynamic models and theshortcomings and failures of existing models; The results of benchmark studies comparingthermodynamic models; The availability of new experimental data, andidentification of areas in which new data are needed; The availability of new experimental facilities or newmeasurement methods; The discussion of how to best measure certain properties orphase behavior; The role of molecular-level simulation and quantumchemical calculations in process simulation;The role of thermodynamic and phase equilibriumcalculations in nontraditional areas such as solid stateprocessing, environmental science, polymer processing,biotechnology, safety, industrial hygiene, environmentalengineering and other areas.

Forum Name: General Career Discussion ForumModerator: Open CommunityThis is an unmoderated open area for anyone to startdiscussions around career topics, as contrasted to businessor technical/technology topics. These could include careerdevelopment issues, training issues, pros and cons of anMBA or other advanced degree, questions or advice onwhat skills are needed for the future, discrimination issuesin the workplace, problems in balancing career and family,or any other career-related topic. This forum is open to allquestions or ideas related to careers, not just leading edgetopics. Contributors should feel able to freely explore ideaswith their colleagues and to seek solutions or assistance toparticular problems that they have.

The four Business topics are:

Asset ManagementGeneral Business Discussion ForumImpact of the Internet & E-CommerceSupply Chain Optimization

Forum Name: Asset ManagementModerator: Joe MorrayIncreasingly, owner-operators in the process industries arerecognizing the benefits that are available from integratingtheir plant information from early conceptualization to theongoing requirements of maintenance and operations of afacility. The historical disconnects between plant assetdesign information and operations/maintenanceinformation are proving to be unacceptable in the highlycompressed global market place, where dramatic reductionsin cycle time, massive re-use of plant information, andconsistent product quality on a global basis are thestandards by which most companies are measuring success.The discussion group will focus on documenting examplesof where companies have successfully integratedinformation regarding different phases of a plant and whathave been the economic benefits of such integration. Thediscussion group will attempt to define what assetmanagement means in the context of new technologies andhow can the new level of "informationalization" bebeneficial to all of the mission critical work processes of aplant. In addition, a number of the findings andrequirements from the Owner-Operator Forum will bedocumented and discussed in this discussion group.


16 Articles

Forum Name: General Business Discussion ForumModerator: Open CommunityThis is an unmoderated open area for anyone to startdiscussions around business topics, as contrasted to careeror technical/technology topics. These could includemanagement practices, marketing problems, strategicplanning, raising capital for new ventures, supply chainmanagement, or any other business-related topic. Thisforum is open to all questions or ideas related to business,not just leading edge topics. Contributors should feel ableto freely explore ideas with their colleagues and to seeksolutions or assistance to particular problems that theyhave.

Forum Name: Impact of the Internet & E-CommerceModerator: Srikant GokulnathaThe Internet is changing the way that business isconducted. Although the process industries may have beeninitially slower to feel the impact of this change, things arerapidly changing as on-line exchanges, collaborative sitesand the quicker transfer of information change the way thatcompanies operate. This forum is meant to explore allissues related to the impact that the Internet and e-Commerce is having on the process industries and businessin general."

Forum Name: Supply Chain OptimizationModerator: Stephen GravesThe goal of supply chain management is to coordinate thematerial flow over the entire global supply chain so as tomatch supply to demand in the most cost-effective manner.The purpose of this forum is to facilitate knowledge sharingon the challenges of global supply chain management andon the best practices for the optimization of supply chains.This forum is designed for the discussion of various tacticsand strategies for coordinating the supply chain. The majorfocus will be on supply chain design, supply chain planningand supply chain partnering. Some examples of typicaldiscussion topics are as follows:

Design: Size and location of production and distributionfacilities. Cost of product variety. Value of delayed productdifferentiation or postponement. Location of strategic safetystocks.Planning: Implementation challenges of advanced planningsystems. Tactics for capacity allocation, order commitmentand scheduling. Forecasting methods.Partnering: Value of information/forecast sharing. Pricingmechanisms and contracts. Partnering arrangements likeVMI. Make/buy decisions.

What is the Internet ParadigmBy Einar (Stef) Stefferud

Einar Stefferud foundedNetwork ManagementAssociates in 1969 to providestrategic technical and policymanagement advice fornetwork environments. Heco-founded First VirtualHoldings in 1994, whichoperated an Internet Payment

System. His practice includes documented planning forgovernance of Internet infrastructures. Also, Mr. Stefferudis heavily involved with the Open Root ServerConfederation (www.open-rsc.org).

SUMMARYThe Internet provides raw power. Thus, the net works as anamplifier that can reward results and self-discipline, orproblems and inefficiency. The presentation discusses thegrowth of the Internet and its working paradigms, as wellas its evolution, for example, the concept ofinterworkability (beyond interoperation), in order toachieve the massive collaboration made possible by theInternet. This massive collaboration motivates severalgovernance principles, including a move away fromcentralized control and a stressing self-discipline. Sublayerindependence and a simple core with complex edges arealso discussed as part of the Internet Paradigm.

See www.castdiv.org for a downloadable copy of thepresentation Dr. Stefferud gave in September 1999.

--- Fun fact for the day. The number of U.S. employeesworking in computer services nearly doubled from 1992 to1998 to 1.6 million people! [www.zdnet.com/pcmag; Jun13, 2000]

http://www.open-rsc.org/


http://www.zdnet.com/pcmag


Adverstisment 17


18 Communications

COMMUNICATIONS

Larry Biegler is selected as the CASTDivision 2000 Computing in ChemicalEngineering Award RecipientBy Peter Rony

"For outstanding contributionsto the development andapplication of nonlinearprogramming techniques toprocess design and control,"Larry Biegler is this year'swinner of the CASTComputing in ChemicalEngineering Award. Asaccomplishments of this year's

award winner, the nomination package states the following:

"Through optimization methods, process design hasacquired a strong scientific basis by allowing rigorousquantitative modeling and decision making in processflowsheets. Larry Biegler has been a pioneer and worldleader in this field. Given the importance of processsystems engineering and its place as one of the frontierareas to be emphasized in future years, Biegler’s researchcontributions rank among the best of young engineers inboth quality and relevance to our profession. "

"One of Biegler’s major contributions has been theconception and development of “infeasible path” strategiesfor computing optimal designs. In the past, designoptimization was regarded as an interesting academicexercise but with little practical relevance due to the largecomputational expense that was required with earliermethods. In Biegler’s research, he developed the notionthat simulation and optimization through sequentialquadratic programming (SQP) can be performedsimultaneously with substantial savings in computationtime. The term “infeasible path” is used because duringoptimization the equations describing the process statesare not satisfied: the intermediate states are “infeasible.”The process equations are converged simultaneously withthe search for the optimal solution, thereby greatlyreducing the computational time and effort."

"The importance of these ideas has been recognized byindustry. Biegler’s algorithms have been incorporated incommercial process simulators (like ASPEN PLUS) so as tomake flowsheet optimization a practical reality.Furthermore, Biegler himself incorporated his method intothe FLOWTRAN simulator, which has been distributed by

CACHE and used extensively at many universities in theU.S. and abroad."

"[Biegler] has also become a leader in the development oftechniques for the optimization of processes described bysystems of differential/algebraic equations. He hasaccomplished this by combining sequential quadraticprogramming and orthogonal collocation techniques in anovel and efficient manner. This has led to the capabilityof optimizing flowsheets with differential equations, whichconstitutes a major advance because it allows the designerto model chemical reactors and other spatially varyingunits, instead of simply using the common approximate“input-output” relations."

"In addition to his work in process optimization, Bieglerhas made very significant contributions in two other areasof design research. The first of these involves synthesis ofchemical reactor networks. In this work, based on elegantconcepts of attainable regions, Biegler has demonstratedthat rigorous kinetic models can be brought in at the earlystages of design to increase the scope for processoptimization. … The second area in which Biegler hasbecome a leader is in optimization approaches for processcontrol. Major contributions have been the development oftechniques for the explicit treatment of constraints andnonlinear process models."

"In addition to making outstanding technical contributions,Larry Biegler has been extremely active serving ourprofession. He was chair of Area 10a of AIChE, PastPresident of the CAST Division and CACHE, and co-chairof FOCAPD’94 and the IMA Workshop on Large-ScaleOptimization. He is currently Associate Editor ofIndustrial and Engineering Chemistry Research and chairof the ADCHEM 2000 Meeting in Italy. He has taughtmany industrial short courses at AIChE, Carnegie Mellon,and MIT, and is co-author with Ignacio Grossmann andArthur Westerberg of the recent textbook, "SystematicMethods for Chemical Process Design". He is also thecurrent director of the Center for Advanced ProcessDecision-making at Carnegie Mellon."

"Larry Biegler was given in 1991 the Air ProductsExtraordinary Quality Award for the economic impact ofhis successive quadratic programming methodology. Therespect with which he is viewed by the chemicalengineering community -- both industrial and academic --is evidenced by the long list of invited and keynote papershe has delivered, by the two “Best Paper” awards hereceived from Computers and Chemical Engineering andby his selection as a Presidential Young Investigator at theage of only 28."


Communications 19

"Larry Biegler represents the new breed of researchers whoeffectively and creatively combine the fundamentals ofprocess engineering, numerical analysis, and mathematicalprogramming. The impressive productivity of his researchis matched by a high standard of quality. He is withoutdoubt one of the leading researchers in Process SystemsEngineering, and hence he is an outstanding candidate forthe Computing and Chemical Engineering Award."

Letters in support of the nomination stated the following:

"My overall assessment of Larry Biegler is that he ranksamong the most outstanding and successful chemicalengineers when judged broadly across all areas, and he iscertainly in the very top rank of chemical engineers in thesystems area."

"Dr. Biegler has done for large-scale optimization inchemical engineering what Dr. John Prausnitz at Berkeleyhas done for phase equilibrium. [He] has been on thecutting edge of research in and development of the field,but has also taken the time to show others how his workcan be applied and made useful."

"Dr. Biegler's work is based on sound fundamentalmathematical concepts. His thorough understanding ofsimulation, optimization, control, and advancedmathematics has made him a highly sought-after expert forwriting review articles and presenting seminars."

"His PhD research showed how to implement, efficientlyand simply, the successive quadratic programmingalgorithm. The result was a merger of flowsheet simulatorswith this advanced optimization algorithm in a frameworkthat has subsequently been implemented by all of the majorsimulation companies. Thanks to this advance, processdesigns are now routinely optimized in the time it takes tocomplete a single simulation of the flowsheet."

"Clearly, in just 20 years, the research results of Lorenz T.Biegler are having a major impact. In computer-aidedprocess design and control, his work is broad. He is aprolific author, whose papers are widely read, and apopular speaker at nearly all of the research conferences."

"Larry is unique among younger professors in terms of theimpact his research results have already had in theindustrial practice of chemical engineering as well as onchemical engineering education."

"He has been one of the strongest investigators I haveknown in the field of optimization and chemical processesand process systems engineering. ... He has beenparticularly effective in teaching about computing tostudents and professionals."

John Ayala is selected as the CAST 2000Computing Practice Award RecipientBy John T. Baldwin

John Ayala has been awarded theComputing Practice Award for hispioneering developments, reductionto practice in terms of softwareproducts and implementationpractices, and industrial applicationof advanced process control and realtime optimization technologies.

Following his graduation from MITwith a Master in Chemical Engineering Practice degree in1977, John started his professional career at Shell OilCompany’s Norco Refinery, where he remained untiljoining the Advanced Process Control Group at M. W.Kellogg in 1986. In 1987 he then joined founder CharlesCutler at DMC Corporation (DMCC) as General Managerof Projects where he remained until DMCC was acquiredby Aspen Technology in 1966, where he continues to worktoday.

John has always been recognized as an outstanding processengineer, with exceptional abilities to analyze andunderstand the complexities in the behavior of a refinery orpetrochemical process. Charles Cutler, a well-knownmember of the advanced control area who has workedclosely with John since his first assignment at Shell in 1977stated, “Without any reservation, John is the best engineer Ihave worked with in my 40 years.” Charles further states,“I believe John is the most knowledgeable person in theworld on open equation modeling and real timeoptimization.”

Some achievements during John’s early years resulted fromhis exceptional technical leadership in the earlydevelopment and pioneering applications of DynamicMatrix Control (DMC) technology and real-timeoptimization (RTO) based on a comprehensive model of theplant in open equation format. Today these approaches arealmost universally accepted as effective ways to control andoptimize the operations of a plant. In his early years atShell, John was the first to provide the technical leadershiprequired to deploy them in a wide variety of refinery andpetrochemical plants.

John’s outstanding ability to play several roles led to hiscontributions during his early years for the followingreasons:

1. At the core was the fact that he was an outstandingprocess engineer.

2. He had an ability to transfer the basic technology tocomputer code that was sufficiently practical andreliable to be used in an operating plant environment.


20 Communications

3. He demonstrated exceptional innovation and creativityin overcoming technical problems so that thetechnology would work as intended in specificapplications.

4. He was able to gain the respect of the parties withvested interests in the outcome, including managersand engineers as well as operators and technicians.

John consistently provided technical leadership for a largenumber of real applications of advanced controltechnologies, always “closing the loop” by leveragingexperiences to improve and refine the technologies,significantly advancing the state of the art in the process.

Clearly, John is an outstanding engineer, advanced controltechnologist, and leader who is worthy of the 2000Computing Practice Award of the Computing and SystemsTechnology Division of the AIChE.

CAST CommunicationsAdvertising Policy

Advertising Rates: 1/4 page = $ 60 2/3 page = $ 120 1/3 page = $ 70 1 page = $ 150 1/2 page = $ 90

Production Details:Retain your original art, please. Submit both a floppy diskette(Windows or DOS) or e-mail containing an electronic version of the ad(contact editor for preferred formats) and two, high-quality, positiveXerox copies (properly packaged to avoid damage) of youradvertisement, in sizes either 8.5” x 11” or 8” x 10”, to the CASTnewsletter editor: Peter R. Rony, Department of Chemical Engineering,Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061-0211.

Deadlines:December 1 for the Winter issue (very tight deadline); July 1 for theSummer issue.

Payment Details:Prior to publication of advertisement, please submit check payable to theCAST Division, AIChE to the Secretary/Treasurer: Scott Keeler, DowAgroSciences, 9330 Zionsville Road, Indianapolis, IN 46268.

Editorial Department:If you have questions, please contact:

Peter R. Rony Department of Chemical Engineering Virginia Tech Blacksburg, VA 24061-0211 (W) Telephone (703) 231-7658, please leave message (H) Telephone (703) 951-2805 FAX (703) 231-5022 E-mail: [email protected]

Mayuresh V. Kothare wins the TedPetersen Student Paper Award for 2000By Peter Rony

Mayuresh V. Kothare, who did hisM.S. and Ph.D. work at Caltechunder Professor Manfred Morari,has won the CAST-Division TedPetersen Student Paper Award. Hispaper is entitled "RobustConstrained Model PredictiveControl Using Linear MatrixInequalities", by M. V. Kothare, V.Balakrishnan, and M. Morari

[Automatica, 32, 1361-79, October 1996].

Supporting letters for the award stated:

"The paper represents a landmark in both the predictivecontrol and the robust control literature. Its impact reachesfar beyond the typical applications in process control. Inthe last 3 l/2 years, other researchers from different areascited the paper almost fifty times, which comparesfavorably with previous Peterson Award recipients. "

"The novel features and important developments reportedin this publication can be summarized as follows:

• The method provides robust stability and performanceguarantees for constrained multi-variable systems for aspecified range of model uncertainty. It takes intoaccount the effects of feedback which makes themethod significantly less conservative than most otherattempts to solve this problem.

• The technique can handle more general uncertaintydescriptions than any other robust predictive controlalgorithm published prior or afterwards: finite impulseresponse uncertainty (with correlations among thecoefficients if appropriate) as well as uncertainty in thelinear fractional transformation structure.

• The method employs a linear matrix inequalities (LMI)formulation, which was novel in 1994 when the workwas first presented but has since taken the controlcommunity by storm. By employing this methodology,the [authors] also bridge the gap between the processcontrol-oriented dynamic matrix control literature andthe theory-oriented mathematical control papers.

• Though this technique was formulated by Kothare andco-workers in the context of state feedback, extensionsare indicated to cover “scheduled” systems where oneor more of the changing parameters is measurable, andto the output feedback case. These extensions greatly



Communications 21

increase the applicability and reduce the conservatismof the proposed techniques.

• In his review paper for the 1998 Model PredictiveControl Workshop, Prof. David Mayne, ImperialCollege London, praised this work to be the only oneproperly accounting for feedback effects in robustModel Predictive Control. Prof. Mayne is one of thesenior leaders in the control field."

"This paper, published in one of the premiere controljournals, marks a turning point in the predictive controlliterature."

"The nominated paper is an exceptional contribution andstrongly merits recognition for its excellence andoriginality."

"Because the paper lists two co-authors, it is important todescribe their contributions. Balakrishnan, now on thefaculty at Purdue University, was a postdoctoral student atCaltech and presented a course on the use of linear matrixinequalities in control. Kothare was intrigued by thepresented ideas, took the initiative, saw the applicability tothe robust MPC problem and started the research. Kotharedeserves not only credit for the initial idea but for itscomplete execution."

"[From the industrial perspective] of someone concernedwith the development and deployment of computing andsystems technology in solving industrial process problems,the primary contributions of Mayuresh’s paper are:

• The paper provides results that, for the first time,proceed from fundamental developments in themathematical literature of Linear Matrix Inequalities(LMI) and systematically end with a practical, usefulformulation for robust MPC.

• The class of model uncertainties considered in thepaper is fairly general and not restricted to the simplerFinite Impulse Response (FIR) models, therebyproviding, again for the first time, a completelyrigorous and general framework for robust MPC.

• Starting from the assumption of state-feedback and anunconstrained regulation objective, the developmentsystematically extends the formulation to incorporateinput and output constraints and other standardproblems such as time delays, trajectory tracking,constant set-point tracking, and disturbance rejection."

"In summary then, Mayuresh’s paper illustrates a uniquecombination of strong theoretical capabilities in systemstheory and applied mathematics, on the one hand, with akeen sense of practical implementation issues on the other."

"… To their strong credit, Khare and his co-authors tackledthe important problem [of robustness in model predictivecontrol] head on in their paper and provided an imaginativesolution. Indeed, there is only one other paper that I amaware of that recognizes and addresses this problem. Themere fact that Kothare recognized the problem andprovided a solution is a tribute to his originality. "

"One of the [issues] impeding the use of MPC in newsectors is the effects of modeling errors and understandinghow MPC behaves when both constraints and model errorsare present. The paper makes three contributions to thisarea:

1. It uses the same framework for describing modelinguncertainty as is used in mainstream robust controltheory. This makes it applicable to realistic situations,gives it credibility, and allows it to harness theconsiderable work that has gone into translating real-world uncertainty into the mathematical framework.

2. It makes a significant modification to standard MPCalgorithms, optimization being performed over linearfeedback policies rather than over open-looptrajectories. In various subsequent works this hasproved to be a key idea.

3. It taps into the relatively recent development ofinterior-point methods for convex optimization.Specifically, it uses the machinery of linear matrixinequalities, which has been shown to be extremelyeffective in the systems and control area during the lastfew years.

"[This paper was the first to manage] to break away fromunrealistically simple assumptions about the modelsconsidered, and about the nature of the uncertainty aboutthose models. It has had a very great influence onsubsequent research into robust MPC."

--- Get in the habit of analysis - analysis will in timeenable synthesis to become your habit of mind. --- FrankLloyd Wright


22 Advertisement

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Communications 23

How to Contact the AIChE

One-stop shopping for conferences, publications,membership, divisions, employment, training,government relations, student engineers, and otherAlChE products and services may be obtained from the:

AIChE Customer ServiceAmerican Institute of Chemical Engineers3 Park AvenueNew York, NY 10016-5991Telephone: 1-800-AIChemE (1-800-242-4363)Tel. International: (212) 591-8100 Fax: (212) 591-8897E-mail: [email protected] Programs: Seabury & Smith: (800) 982-4243

For answers to special questions, try one of the followingstaff:

Mary MarketteDirector, Education ServicesTelephone: (212) 591-7499E-Mail: [email protected]

Diana McCauleyDirector, Member ServicesTelephone: (212) 591-7329E-Mail: [email protected]

Betty FeehanManager, Career Services, Member ServicesTelephone: (212) 591-7524E-Mail: [email protected]

Margie Joy WaldenManager, Member Activity Groups, Member ServicesTelephone: (212) 591-7652E-Mail: [email protected]

Nancy RabkinManager, Membership DevelopmentTelephone: (212) 591-7174E-Mail: [email protected]

Joe CramerDirector, ProgrammingTelephone: (212) 591-7950E-Mail: [email protected]

Darlene SchusterDirector, Public AffairsTelephone: (202) 962-86901300 I Street, NW, Suite 1090 East TowerWashington, D.C. 20005

Scott HamiltonManager, Communications, Public AffairsTelephone: (212) 591-7660E-Mail: [email protected]

Steve SmithSenior Director, Publications and Information SystemsTelephone: (212) 591-7335E-Mail: [email protected]

Lois DeLongManager, ChAPTER ONE, Publications & Information SystemsTelephone: (212) 591-7661E-Mail: [email protected]

CAST10 E-Mail List

Ray Adomaitis, University of Maryland, has taken over theduties as moderator for the CAST10 mailing list.

The list operation will continue to function in essentiallythe same manner as before, but with the followingexceptions:

1) To post messages to the list, please send mail to: [email protected]) Subscribe/unsubscribe messages should be mailed to: [email protected]) Archived messages as of 1 Sep. 2000 can be found at: www.ench.umd.edu/cast104) Specific instructions on (un)subscribing and posting messages are located at: www.ench.umd.edu/cast10/subscribe.html

Please note that you can use a short list of keywords tospecify where you would like to have your messagearchived. To use this function, include as the first line ofyour message:

Keywords: software, jobs, education, meetingsusing any or all of the keywords.

Ray would like to invite comments on the operation of theemail list and archive website, especially suggestions ofuseful services that can be provided through this list. Sendthem to [email protected].













http://www.ench.umd.edu/cast10

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24 Meetings & Conferences

MEETINGS, CONFERENCES, CONGRESSES, AND WORKSHOPS

New Location of Meeting Section

This section has been moved on-line to www.castdiv.org.See the screen capture below. As announcements areposted on the CAST10 e-mail list at [email protected],summaries will be added to the website. Other sources ofmeeting information will be used as well; a direct e-mail tothe Editors will ensure that your favorite CAST-relatedmeeting is listed.

The move was accomplished because the Editors sawseveral advantages: lower postage costs, more up-to-dateinformation, and live hyperlinks to all the meetings.However, if you do not have access to a web browser andthus can no longer read the Meetings and Conferencessection, contact the Associate Editor, Karl Schnelle, for acurrent copy.

Please give AIChE your e-mail address, ifyou have not already done so. See page 2.



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The Computing and Systems Technology (CAST) Division of AIChE is responsible for the wide range of activities withinAIChE that involve the application of computers and mathematics to chemical engineering problems including process design,process control, operations, and applied mathematics. We arrange technical sessions at AIChE Meetings, organize specialconferences, and publish this newsletter - CAST Communications - twice a year. These activities enable our members to keepabreast of the rapidly changing fields of computers and system technology. The cost is $10 per year, and includes a subscriptionto this newsletter. Shouldn’t you join the CAST Division now? See www.castdiv.org for more details.

Application for Membership

I wish to join the CAST Division of AIChE.

Date: ____________________________________________________________________________________

Name: ____________________________________________________________________________________

Title: ____________________________________________________________________________________

Company/University: ____________________________________________________________________

Business Address: __________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________

City: ____________________________________________________________________________________

Home Address: __________________________________________________________________________

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E-mail Address: ______________________________________________________________________________

Preferred mailing address:_____ Home _____ Office

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(If not, I understand that I must join AIChE within a one-year period to continue as a CAST Division member.)

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_____ I will pay my CAST Division dues with my annual AIChE dues

Please mail this application to:

American Institute of Chemical EngineersComputing and Systems Technology Division3 Park AvenueNew York, NY 10016-5991


American Institute of Chemical Engineers

2001 Award Nomination Form*A. Background Data1. Name of the Award __________________________ Today’s Date _____________________________

2. Name of Nominee ___________________________ Date of Birth _____________________________

3. Present Position (exact title)

____________________________________________________________________________________________

4. Education

Institution Degree Received Year Received Field

5. Positions Held

Company or Institution Position or Title Dates

6. Academic and Professional Honors (include awards, memberships in honorary societies and fraternities, prizes) anddate the honor was received. Use separate page.

7. Technical and Professional Society Memberships and Offices. Use separate page.

8. Sponsor’s Name and Address

____________________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________

Sponsor’s Signature

________________________________________________________________________________________________________

*A person may be nominated for only one award in a given year.

THE DEADLINE FOR AWARD NOMINATIONS IS April 15, 2001.

B. Citation1. A brief statement, not to exceed 250 words, of why the candidate should receive this award. (Use separate sheet of

paper, please.)

2. Proposed citation (not more than 25 carefully edited words that reflect specific accomplishments).

C. QualificationsEach award has a different set of qualifications. These are described in the awards brochure. After reading them, please fill inthe following information about the nominee where appropriate. Use a separate sheet for each item if necessary.

1. Selected Bibliography (include books, patents, and major papers published).

2. Specific identification and evaluation of the accomplishments on which the nomination is based.

3. If the nominee has previously received any award from AIChE or one of its Division, an explicit statement of newaccomplishments or work over and above those cited for the earlier award(s).

4. Other pertinent information.

D. Supporting Letters and DocumentsList of no more than five individuals whose letters are attached.

Name Affiliation

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Please send the completed form and supplement sheets to the CAST Division 2nd Vice Chair. Please checkwww.castdiv.org for the name and address for the 2001 2nd Vice Chair. Or the 2000 2nd Vice Chair will forward thenomination to the new chair for you: John T. Baldwin, Department of Chemical Engineering, Texas A&M University,College Station, TX 77843, Phone: 409-260-5020, Fax: 409-260-4912, [email protected]

THE DEADLINE FOR AWARD NOMINATIONS IS April 15, 2001.



CAST Communications

The Semi-Annual Publication of theComputers and Systems Technology Division of AIChE

Volume 23, No. 2 Fall 2000Editor:

Peter R. RonyDepartment of Chemical Engineering

Virginia TechBlacksburg, VA 24061-0211

Deadlines: December 1 (tight deadline), July 1

American Institute of Chemical Engineers3 Park AvenueNew York, NY 10016-5991

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