Process Control Vs Process System??

In the last post, I did mention about how process control (PC) is a combination of modeling, control and optimization technique. Well, from a recent discussion with my lecturers, it turn out that such combination is called process system engineering (PSE). PSE is a more fitting term to express the matter as it is the study of many aspects such as:-

• Modelling and Optimization
• Product and Process design
• Process Control
• Energy and sustainability
• Health, Safety & Environment (HSE)
• Industry applications
• Policy and management

Thus, PC is just another subset of what PSE is all about. However, in my personal view, I would regard that the modeling, process control and optimization is the main idea of the PSE and that's why I put them together in the first place. In order to developed a good control strategy, a good model is needed. In addition, the selection of the control scheme (e.g. PID, MBC etc) must be fitting with the behavior of the process/system handled. Lastly, the optimization study can be done for a better process performance with a lower action cost. If the process/system design have problems, then there is no way a good controller can solve it no matter how good the controller is. A good control design must come from a good process/system design in the first place. In the real practice, a control scheme development must comply with the safety regulation, legal aspects, government policy, environmental issues and financial constrains. Thus, these things need to be bear in mind first before designing and proposing a control scheme.

In the nutshell: PSE is about a lot of things and PC is one of them.