AUTOMATION OF A FIXED-BED CONTINUOUS-FLOW REACTOR

This paper describes the design and operation of a laboratory plant. with a fixed-bed continuous-flow, reactor, fully automated and controlled from a personal computer. the automated variables include two gas flows, one liquid flow, six temperatures, two pressures, one circulation of a cooling liquid, and 10 electrovalves. An adaptive-predictive control system was used, The chemical process chosen to run the automated reactor was the conversion of methanol to gasoline over a ZSM-5 catalyst. This is a highly exothermal process, so a cascade control system had to be used to control the reactor internal temperature. Pressure and weight hourly space velocity (WHSV) were fixed at 1 atm and 1.5 h(-1) respectively. Accurate control (+/- 0.2 degrees C) of the reactor's internal temperature was achieved and repeatability for the conversion of methanol to gasoline was good.