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Stability of autorefrigerated chemical reactors

1966; Wiley; Volume: 12; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1002/aic.690120410

1547-5905

William L. Luyben,

Advanced Control Systems Optimization

Abstract Stability of exothermic chemical reactors with cooling jackets or internal cooling coils has been extensively studied by steady state, phase plane, and linear analysis techniques. The purpose of this paper is to apply these techniques to the frequently encountered case of autorefrigerated or boiling liquid reactors. In these reactors the exothermic heat of reaction is removed, not by conductive and convective heat transfer, but by vaporization of a liquid phase or, more generally, by any kind of endothermic change in phase. Open‐loop and closed‐loop stability of a continuous stirre‐tank autorefrigerated reactor is studied. General equations are derived and illustrated by numerical examples. Both constant and variable latent heats of vaporization are considered. A particularly interesting aspect of autorefrigerated reactor stability is operation near the critical temperature. Since the latent heat approaches zero, instability of the system is increased, representing a form of positive feedback in a chemical system.