Study for Reactor Temperature Control System

The objective of the study was to evaluate the controllability of a proposed design of reactor system, using a dynamic model of the process. The scope of the model covered the reactor, heat exchange equipment, control valves and the associated control system.

The dynamic model exploits the fact that pressure and flow transients have much smaller time constants than the temperature changes that occur within the reactor catalyst bed allowing the distribution of flow and pressure in the system to be solved independently of the thermal behaviour the catalyst bed.

The partial differential equations that describe the behaviour of the catalyst bed are solved using a finite difference scheme, and the solution yields the temperature and composition transients within the bed.

The model was used to test the response of the system to a number of process disturbances, including step changes in feed composition and feed rate, and downstream loss of pressure.

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