Chemical Reactor Design and Control

William L. Luyben, PhD, is a Professor of Chemical Engineering at Lehigh University. In addition to teaching for forty years, Dr. Luyben spent nine years as an engineer with Exxon and DuPont. He has written nine books, including Distillation Design and Control Using Aspen Simulation (Wiley), and more than 200 papers. He was awarded the AIChE CAST Division "Computing Practice Award" in 2003 and elected to the Process Automation Hall of Fame in 2005.

"This book is an excellent addition to the relevant literature…. [It] will appeal both to those already well versed in control engineering and to process development engineers." (Chemistry and Industry, December 2008) "The book could be very useful to specialists in the field of chemical engineering, professionals who work with chemical reactors and students." (Environmental Engineering and Management Journal, November/December 2008)"The book could be very useful to specialists in the field of chemical engineering, professional who work with chemical reactors and students in training in reactor design, process control and plant design." (Environmental Engineering and Management Journal, January 2008)

• Preface. Chapter 1. Reactor Basics. 1.1 Fundamentals of Reaction Equilibrium and Kinetics. 1.1.1 Power-Law Kinetics. 1.1.2 Heterogeneous Reaction Kinetics. 1.1.3 Biochemical Reaction Kinetics. 1.1.4 References. 1.2 Multiple Reactions. 1.2.1 Parallel Reactions. 1.2.2 Series Reactions. 1.3 Determining Kinetic Parameters. 1.4 Types and Fundamental Properties of Reactors. 1.4.1 Continuous Stirred-Tank Reactor. 1.4.2 Batch Reactor. 1.4.3 Tubular Plug-Flow Reactor. 1.5 Heat Transfer in Reactors. 1.6 Reactor Scale-Up. 1.7 Conclusion. Chapter 2. Steady-State Design of CSTR Systems. 2.1 Irreversible, Single Reactant. 2.1.1 Jacket Cooled. 2.1.2 Internal Coil. 2.1.3 Other Issues. 2.2 Irreversible, Two Reactants. 2.2.1 Equations. 2.2.2 Design. 2.3 Reversible Exothermic. 2.4 Consecutive Reactions. 2.5 Simultaneous Reactions. 2.6 Multiple CSTR’s. 2.6.1 Multiple Isothermal CSTR’s in Series with Reaction A-B. 2.6.2 Multiple CSTR’s in Series with Different Temperatures. 2.6.3 Multiple CSTR’s in Parallel. 2.6.4 Multiple CSTR’s with Reversible Exothermic Reactions. 2.7 Auto-Refrigerated Reactor. 2.8 Aspen Plus Simulation of CSTR’s. 2.8.1 Simulation Setup. 2.8.2 Specifying Reactions. 2.8.3 Reactor Setup. 2.9 Optimization of CSTR Systems. 2.9.1 Economics of Series CSTR’s. 2.9.2 Economics of a Reactor/Column Process. 2.9.3 CSTR Processes with Two Reactants. 2.10 Conclusion. Chapter 3. Control of CSTR Systems. 3.1 Irreversible, Single Reactant. 3.1.1 Nonlinear Dynamic Model. 3.1.2 Linear Model. 3.1.3 Effect of Conversion on Openloop and Closedloop Stability. 3.1.4 Nonlinear Dynamic Simulation. 3.1.5 Effect of Jacket Volume. 3.1.6 Cooling Coil. 3.1.7 External Heat Exchanger. 3.1.8 Comparison of CSTR-in-Series Processes. 3.1.9 Dynamics of Reactor/Stripper Process. 3.2 Reactor/Column Process with Two Reactants. 3.2.1 Nonlinear Dynamic Model of Reactor and Column. 3.2.2 Control Structure for Reactor/Column Process. 3.2.3 Reactor/Column Process with Hot Reaction. 3.3 Auto-Refrigerated Reactor Control. 3.3.1 Dynamic Model. 3.3.2 Simulation Results. 3.4 Reactor Temperature Control Using Feed Manipulation. 3.4.1 Introduction. 3.4.2 Revised Control Structure. 3.4.3 Results. 3.4.4 Valve-Position Control. 3.5 Aspen Dynamics Simulation of CSTR’s. 3.5.1 Setting Up the Dynamic Simulation. 3.5.2 Running the Simulation and Tuning Controllers. 3.5.3 Results with Several Heat-Transfer Options. 3.6 Conclusion. Chapter 4. Control of Batch Reactors. 4.1 Irreversible, Single Reactant. 4.1.1 Pure Batch Reactor. 4.1.2 Fed-Batch Reactor. 4.2 Batch Reactor with Two Reactants. 4.3 Batch Reactor with Consecutive Reactions. 4.4 Aspen Plus Simulation using RBatch. 4.5 Ethanol Batch Fermentor. 4.6 Fed-Batch Hydrogenation Reactor. 4.7 Batch TML Reactor. 4.8 Fed-Batch Reactor with Multiple Reactions. 4.8.1 Equations. 4.8.2 Effect of Feed Trajectory on Conversion and Selectivity. 4.8.3 Batch Optimization. 4.8.4 Effect of Parameters. 4.8.5 Simultaneous Reaction Case. 4.9 Conclusion. Chapter 5. Steady-State Design of Tubular Reactor Systems. 5.1 Introduction. 5.2 Types of Tubular Reactor Systems. 5.2.1 Type of Recycle. 5.2.2 Phase of Reaction. 5.2.3 Heat-Transfer Configuration. 5.3 Tubular Reactors in Isolation. 5.3.1 Adiabatic PFR. 5.3.2 Non-Adiabatic PFR. 5.4 Single Adiabatic Tubular Reactor System with Gas Recycle. 5.4.1 Process Conditions and Assumptions. 5.4.2 Design and Optimization Procedure. 5.4.3 Results for Single Adiabatic Reactor System. 5.5 Multiple Adiabatic Tubular Reactors with Interstage Cooling. 5.5.1 Design and Optimization Procedure. 5.5.2 Results for Multiple Adiabatic Reactors with Interstage Cooling. 5.6 Multiple Adiabatic Tubular Reactors with Cold-Shot Cooling. 5.6.1 Design and Optimization Procedure. 5.6.2 Results for Multiple Adiabatic Reactors with Cold-Shot Cooling. 5.7 Cooled Reactor System. 5.7.1 Design Procedure for Cooled Reactor System. 5.7.2 Results for Cooled Reactor System. 5.8 Tubular Reactor Simulation using Aspen Plus. 5.8.1 Adiabatic Tubular Reactor. 5.8.2 Cooled Tubular Reactor with Constant Temperature Coolant. 5.8.3 Cooled Reactor with Co-Current or Counter-Current Coolant Flow. 5.9 Conclusion. Chapter 6. Control of Tubular Reactor Systems. 6.1 Introduction. 6.2  Dynamic Model. 6.3  Control Structures. 6.4  Controller Tuning and Disturbances. 6.5  Results for Single Adiabatic Reactor System. 6.6 Multi-Stage Adiabatic Reactor System with Interstage Cooling. 6.7 Multi-Stage Adiabatic Reactor System with Cold-Shot Cooling. 6.8 Cooled Reactor System. 6.9 Cooled Reactor System with Hot Reaction. 6.9.1 Steady-State Design. 6.9.2 Openloop and Closedloop Responses. 6.9.3 Conclusion. 6.10 Aspen Dynamics Simulation. 6.10.1 Adiabatic Reactor with and without Catalyst. 6.10.2 Cooled Reactor with Coolant Temperature Manipulated. 6.10.3 Cooled Reactor with Co-Current Flow of Coolant. 6.10.4 Cooled Reactor with Counter-Current Flow of Coolant. 6.10.5 Conclusions for Aspen Simulation of Types of Tubular Reactors. 6.11 Plantwide Control of Methanol Process. 6.11.1 Chemistry and Kinetics. 6.11.2 Process Description. 6.11.3 Steady-State Aspen Plus Simulation. 6.11.4 Dynamic Simulation. 6.12 Conclusion . Chapter 7. Feed-Effluent Heat Exchangers. 7.1 Introduction. 7.2 Steady-State Design. 7.3 Linear Analysis. 7.31 Flowsheet FS1 without Furnace. 7.3.2 Flowsheet FS2 with Furnace. 7.3.3 Nyquist Plots. 7.4 Nonlinear Simulation. 7.4.1 Dynamic Model. 7.4.2 Control Structure. 7.4.3 Results. 7.5. Hot Reaction Case. 7.6 Aspen Simulation. 7.7 Conclusion. Chapter 8. Control of Special Types of Industrial Reactors. 8.1 Fluidized Catalytic Crackers. 8.1.2 Reactor. 8.1.2 Regenerator. 8.1.3 Control Issues. 8.2 Gasifiers. 8.3 Fired Furnaces, Kilns and Driers. 8.4 Pulp Digesters. 8.5 Polymerization Reactors. 8.6 Biochemical Reactors. 8.7 Slurry Reactors. 8.8 Micro-Scale Reactors.