Uncertainty in chemical process systems engineering: a critical review

Abstract

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title> <jats:p>Uncertainty or error occurs as a result of a lack or misuse of knowledge about specific topics or situations. In this review, we recall the differences between error and uncertainty briefly, first, and then their probable sources. Then, their identifications and management in chemical process design, optimization, control, and fault detection and diagnosis are illustrated. Furthermore, because of the large amount of information that can be obtained in modern plants, accurate analysis and evaluation of those pieces of information have undeniable effects on the uncertainty in the system. Moreover, the origins of uncertainty and error in simulation and modeling are also presented. We show that in a multidisciplinary modeling approach, every single step can be a potential source of uncertainty, which can merge into each other and generate unreliable results. In addition, some uncertainty analysis and evaluation methods are briefly presented. Finally, guidelines for future research are proposed based on existing research gaps, which we believe will pave the way to innovative process designs based on more reliable, efficient, and feasible optimum planning.</jats:p>

Investigating the Trade-Off between Design and Operational Flexibility in Continuous Manufacturing of Pharmaceutical Tablets: A Case Study of the Fluid Bed Dryer

“…Since formulated products have a range of critical quality attributes, it is necessary that these envelopes reflect a number of quality conditions. There has been work to include a more systematic approach to handling uncertainty: through stochastic methods which use knowledge of the likelihood of uncertain events or through defining more explicit operational windows where safety and quality can be guaranteed [27,28]. More recently, in the context of CPM work has been published on methods of global sensitivity analysis [29], flexibility analysis [23] and clustering techniques [30].…”