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Simulation of an industrial nylon 6 tubular reactor
Author(s) -
Gupta Santosh K.,
Tjahjadi Mahari
Publication year - 1987
Publication title -
journal of applied polymer science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.575
H-Index - 166
eISSN - 1097-4628
pISSN - 0021-8995
DOI - 10.1002/app.1987.070330322
Subject(s) - materials science , heat transfer , process engineering , volumetric flow rate , steady state (chemistry) , nuclear engineering , degradation (telecommunications) , reactor design , plug flow reactor model , chemical engineering , continuous stirred tank reactor , thermodynamics , mechanics , chemistry , computer science , organic chemistry , engineering , physics , telecommunications
A commonly used energy‐efficient nylon 6 reactor is simulated under steady‐state conditions. The effects of various operating conditions and parameters, e.g., feed composition, temperature and flow rate, heat transfer coefficients, and reactor dimensions, on the temperature and molecular weight profiles are studied. A temperature maximum is observed in the reactor under usual conditions of operation. The maximum value of the temperature is sensitive to the feed conditions, and one has to ensure that degradation reactions speeded up at high temperatures do not affect product characteristics. The model and the numerical technique used are fairly simple and account for most of the important features of industrial reactors. Hence, these can be used in the development of digital‐control algorithms in the future.