DESIGN AND CONTROL OF TUBULAR AUTOTHERMAL REACTORS

This thesis thoroughly investigates all major aspects of the design and control of a tubular autothermal reactor system using CO oxidation as a test case. The problem is covered from the definition of design and control objectives through experimental implementation and testing. All the reactor configurations currently used in industrial practice are compared for ease of control, parametric sensitivity, dynamic properties and resilience. Evaluations are done using numerical simulation with detailed models and Structural Dominance Analysis.;Several manipulated variables are studied with respect to their effectiveness as a control variable, interaction and speed of response. Staged cocurrent coolant reactor beds are selected and controlled by manipulating a stream of cold bypass gas injected at the inlet of each catalyst bed.;Controllers are designed for resilient reactor/heat exchanger networks using the Internal Model Control (IMC) framework and a control system design simulation package. The results of experimental implementation using a bench scale pilot plant interfaced to a real-time minicomputer are presented.