Optimal Control of Hydrocarbons’ Hydrogenation with Catalysts

In this paper, the optimal control problem of hydrocarbons’ hydrogenation was investigated in the presence of two catalysts—Nickel–Kieselguhr and Raney Nickel. This multistage chemical reaction holds significant practical importance, particularly in the production of high-density fuels. The optimal control problem was reformulated as a nonlinear global optimization problem and addressed using a modified Mind Evolutionary Computation algorithm. The proposed modifications include methods designed to ensure solution feasibility and ease of practical implementation. Using the proposed method, the performance of the two catalysts was compared under constant temperature conditions and with optimal control strategies. The results demonstrate that selecting an effective catalyst has a greater impact on the reaction’s efficiency than temperature control alone, with the Raney Nickel catalyst consistently outperforming the Nickel–Kieselguhr catalyst by at least 17%. Additionally, the optimization approach was applied to identify a new set of catalyst parameters. The newly obtained catalyst parameters allowed for the improvement of the results of the Raney Nickel catalyst by 18%. The results of all numerical experiments and implementation details are described in the paper.