Dear Colleagues:

We would like to solicit contributions to a special issue in Control 
Engineering Practice Journal on "Applications of Advanced Process Control 
Technology on Industrial Systems ".

Despite twenty plus years of commercial applications of APC technology on 
various industrial processes there are still so many unresolved challenges 
at every stage of application design and deployment (test signal design, 
system identification, ensuring stability, handling infeasibilities, 
performance assessment etc.).  APC practice has become partially ‘an art’ 
because of so many unpublished/unreported/scantily referenced ‘best 
practices’.   

At the same time the number of new processes that are being automated and 
optimized every year is growing exponentially and so are the challenges 
associated with successful APC application development and deployment. For 
example, control and optimization of the main fractionator or downstream 
gas concentration unit in a Coker plant is plagued by huge persistent 
cyclic disturbances arising from various events in coking drums.  In a dry 
wall production plant, variable belt conveyor speed introduces a variable 
dead-time, variable time constant process system for the control of degree 
of crystallization and/or degree of drying. In a liquid-liquid extractor 
unit huge energy and material recycles pose a stiff control problem with a 
dense cause-effect matrix.  This list adds up very quickly.  

The special issue is aimed at bringing forward various challenges that are 
encountered in deployment of large scale industrial APC applications and 
how they were addressed, what are the new challenges and possible 
solutions.  This opens up a new avenue for academicians, researchers and 
industrial practitioners to choose and work on immediately applicable 
control engineering research and present better solutions.  The special 
issue can become a good repository for best practices in APC application 
design and deployment on energy systems.   
The due date for submissions is August 15, 2012. Authors are encouraged to 
notify one of the Guest Editors indicating their intention to submit a 
paper by July 15, 2012. Submissions will be peer reviewed and authors will 
be notified of the final decisions no later than April 1, 2013. Expected 
publication of the special issue is June 2013.
Papers must contain high-quality original contributions and be prepared in 
accordance with the CEP standards. Papers must be submitted using EES 
system (http://ees.elsevier.com/conengprac/default.asp).  While submitting 
papers please submit them under EES submission group “Special Issue 
Advanced Process Control”.  Further instructions to authors can be found 
at 
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/123/authorinst
ructions. 
For additional information, please contact one of the Guest Editors.
John Hedengren
Department of Chemical Engineering
Brigham Young University, Provo, UT 84604
Tel: +1 (0) 801 477 7341
E-mail: [log in to unmask]

Rui Huang
United Technologies Research Center
East Hartford, CT, USA
Tel: +1 (0) 860 610 7655
E-mail: [log in to unmask]

Srinivas Karra
Applied Manufacturing Technologies
Houston, TX, USA
Tel: +1 (0) 806 282 7626
E-mail: [log in to unmask]

Jie Yu
Department of Chemical Engineering
McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada
Tel: +1 (0) 905 525 9140 x 27702
E-mail: [log in to unmask]