DYNAMIC EFFECTS OF RECYCLE ELEMENTS IN TUBULAR REACTOR SYSTEMS

Although tubular reactor-recycle systems frequently contain elements such as mixing tanks or heat exchangers, the effects of material capacitance or heat losses upon the system stability have not been hitherto considered. Methods are presented for determining the local asymptotic stability of reactor-recycle systems possessing such elements and are applied to two representative systems: one having a mixing tank at the reactor inlet and the other containing a heat exchanger in the recycle line. The presence of either element does not have a deleterious effect upon the local stability and may even tend to stabilize the system under appropriate conditions. © 1969, American Chemical Society. All rights reserved.