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Startup of an industrial adiabatic tubular reactor
Author(s) -
Verwijs J. W.,
van den Berg H.,
Westerterp K. R.
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
aiche journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.958
H-Index - 167
eISSN - 1547-5905
pISSN - 0001-1541
DOI - 10.1002/aic.690381204
Subject(s) - adiabatic process , nuclear engineering , plug flow reactor model , steady state (chemistry) , chemical reactor , continuous stirred tank reactor , process engineering , control theory (sociology) , chemistry , thermodynamics , mechanics , engineering , computer science , physics , control (management) , artificial intelligence
The dynamic behaviour of an adiabatic tubular plant reactor during the startup is demonstrated, together with the impact of a feed‐pump failure of one of the reactants. A dynamic model of the reactor system is presented, and the system response is calculated as a function of experimentally‐determined, time‐dependent, manipulated variables. The values of model parameters are estimated by using the SimuSolv (1991) computer program. The data set collected during the reactor start‐up is used for the parameter estimation procedure. An excellent agreement is obtained between the experimental and the calculated system response. Many continuously‐operated commercial reactors require a complete conversion of one of the main reactants at the reactor exit. It is shown that for an industrial tubular reactor a much higher initial reactor temperature is required during the startup, compared to the reactor inlet temperature during normal steady‐state operation, to ensure a complete reactant conversion. Much more research is necessary to determine whether this is a generally valid rule.