Scientists from Perm Polytechnic University have developed an automation scheme for a furnace reactor used for the production of technical carbon, better known as carbon black. The press service of PNRPU notes that the new technology automates the main stages of carbon black production and reduces production errors caused by employees. Carbon black is used in the manufacture of rubber and tires, as well as a color pigment in printing inks and paints, so improving its production technologies is important for industry.
In real production conditions, it is impossible to accurately determine in advance the values of all the variables involved in the upcoming chemical reactions: temperature, speed of movement and concentration of raw materials, the specific content of methane in natural gas, moisture in the air, impurities in the raw materials, etc., although this would allow better regulation and control of carbon black production. Our scheme takes these conditions of uncertainty into account. The supply of fuel, oxidizer and other substances will be controlled by special sensors — fuzzy logic PI controllers. They are capable of working with variable coefficients that are not set in advance, and take values based on the input data they receive here and now.
Fuzzy PI controllers manage fuel consumption based on measurements of the methane content of natural gas and control the air supply if the carbon black production technology is violated. PI controllers also supply compounds to neutralize harmful nitrogen oxides formed during the production process. At the final stages of carbon black production, scientists propose placing a laser meter of fine carbon aerosol particles in the quenching chamber of the furnace reactor to determine the concentration of particles. As a result, carbon black with the required physical and chemical properties is obtained in the granulation process.
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