PI observers for uncertainty estimation in continuous chemical reactors

The estimation of heat of reaction in continuous stirred tank reactors, from temperature measurements is addressed in this paper. The uncertainty observer proposed consists of proportional and integral (PI) actions and is based on differential algebraic techniques, therefore the algebraic observability condition for the uncertainty estimation from temperature measurements is easily verified and the observer structure is very simple, which leads to feasible implementation. The structure of the proposed observer is robust against noisy measurements and sustained disturbances. The performance of the observer is shown using numerical simulation.