Patent Document ID: 20080109200
Application ID: 11928186
Patent Flag: 0

Claim One:
1. A computer-implemented method for managing a biofuel production process, comprising: providing an integrated dynamic multivariate predictive model that comprises: at least one continuous process model representing at least one continuous process of the biofuel production process; at least one batch process model representing at least one batch process of the biofuel production process; and a continuous simulation framework, wherein the at least one batch process model interacts with the at least one continuous process model as a nonlinear continuous process via the continuous simulation framework using one or more bridging equations; receiving an objective for the biofuel production process; receiving constraint information specifying one or more constraints for the biofuel production process, wherein the one or more constraints are in terms of the continuous simulation framework; receiving process information related to the at least one batch process and the at least one continuous process from the biofuel production process; executing the integrated dynamic multivariate predictive model in accordance with the objective using the received process information as input, to generate model output comprising target values for one or more variables related to the at least one batch process and the at least one continuous process in accordance with the objective and subject to the one or more constraints; and controlling the at least one batch process and the at least one continuous process of the biofuel production process in accordance with the target values and the objective, subject to the one or more constraints.