This work addresses the computation of surfactant feed profiles for shaping a particle size distribution to a bimodal target distribution. A fundamental population balance model of styrene semibatch emulsion polymerization is used in this control study. Both surfactant feed rate and free surfactant concentration are considered as alternative control variables and a comparison is made of the two approaches. A comparison is also made of several different objective function norms in the optimization. Results suggest that a min-max norm, tied to the distribution modes, is the most appropriate metric. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.