Research On Agent-Based Modeling And Simulation Application For Distillation Column System

System modeling and simulation is an important and effective aid for human researching of the developing law of the world, such as control scheme design, energy saving optimizing, safety analysis, fault diagnosis and so on. All these put forward higher requirements to the simulation model that it can simulate the changing of actual system under any working condition. Distillation column is one of important equipment in chemical production process. With the deepening of industrialization, distillation column system becomes more and more complicated. Many studies have done a lot of research on mathematical model of complex distillation column, including models under different types of distillation column, different operating methods and different feed material. However, each model can only be used for the operation of distillation simulation under certain conditions. If making a little change to the distillation process or operating conditions, modelers need to do a great deal of modification and even remodeling.In order to solve the problem, this paper uses agent-based modeling method on modeling and simulation of distillation column. Firstly, according to the characteristics of distillation column system, the system is divided into material agent, device agent, controller agent and environment. The states and interacting rules of the four types of agent are established. Secondly, this paper studies the message mechanism and interaction relationship between agents under multi conditions. Moreover, according the mechanism of DME distillation process, this paper establishes the knowledge base of the agents, namely the distillation calculation module, including material balance calculating, energy balance calculating, vapor-liquid equilibrium calculating and equipment pressure calculating. Considering the plate efficiency and entrainment phenomenon, the activity coefficient calculating module is improved. Finally, the software structure of agent-based distillation column model is designed. The simulation software of DME distillation is completed in the VS2005development platform. The software can simulate both steady state and dynamic state models.The model can simulate different processes under different conditions by modifying behavior rules of agents, changing interaction of agents and calling different knowledge bases. Comparing the experiment data to the data after calculating of models, the effectiveness and accuracy of the agent-based model are proved.