Model predictive control with dead-time compensation applied to a gas compression system

The natural gas produced in primary separation is passed through a compression system to be pressurized and conditioned before being sent to its final destination. The operation of that system needs to be safe and efficient to avoid equipment damage and reduce energy consumption. The stable and secure operation of the equipment in a compression system is provided, many times, by a classical regulatory control layer. In this work, we present a Model Predictive Control (MPC) strategy to provide setpoints for the regulatory control layer of a gas compression system, aiming to avoid excessive energy consumption, decrease the plant variability, and guarantee a stable and safe operation against load disturbances. The proposed method is tested in a digital twin of a typical industrial unit using a Dead-Time Compensator Generalized Predictive Controller (DTC-GPC). Some disturbances in the feed flow rate of gas were considered as case studies. The controller responded satisfactorily to these disturbances keeping the plant operation stable and returning the controlled variables in the desired operating range after a short time. •A two-level control structure was applied to a gas compression system.•The gas compression system is part of a digital twin of a typical industrial unit.•The DTC-GPC uses the robustification of the filtered Smith predictor into the GPC structure to control time delay processes.•The proposed MPC proved to reduce the variability and energy consumption in the natural gas compression system.