Simultaneous Online Model Identification and Production Optimization Using Modifier Adaptation and Reinforcement Learning

A key problem for many industrial processes is to limit exposure to system malfunction. However, it is often the case that control cost minimization is prioritized over model identification. Indeed, model identification is typically not considered in production optimization, which can lead to delayed awareness and alerting of malfunction. In this talk, I will discuss strategies to address the problem of simultaneous production optimization and system identification. In particular, presenting new algorithms based on modifier adaptation and reinforcement learning, which efficiently manage the tradeoff between cost minimization and identification. For two case studies based on a chemical reactor and subsea oil and gas exploration, we show that our algorithms yield control costs comparable to existing methods while yielding rapid identification of system degradation.