Design procedure for stable operations of first-order reaction systems in a CSTR

An application-oriented design procedure is presented for unique and point-stable operations of first-order reaction systems in a continuous stirred-tank reactor (CSTR). For a given set of values of kinetic constants, reaction enthalpy, feed conditions, residence time, and relevant physical properties, two boundary values of the heat-transfer capacity (St(1), St(3)) and two of the modified coolant temperature (theta(mc,2), theta(mc,3)) analytically derived after a linearization of the unsteady mass and energy balances. With these boundary values, two separate design conditions are formulated; one for the heat transfer capacity (HTC, characterized by St) and one for the modified coolant temperature (MCT, characterized by theta(mc)). Each of these conditions is sufficient to guarantee unique and point-stable steady-state operations for a range of St or theta(mc) values. Predicted behaviors of reacting systems are compared with experimental results obtained from five different systems reacting in four bench-scale and two commercial reactors.