Effect of Process Design/Operation on the Steady-State Operability of a Methyl Methacrylate Polymerization Reactor

Abstract

In this work the problem of how process design and process operation changes modify the open-loop operability of a methyl methacrylate polymerization reactor is addressed. By use of continuation algorithms and global multiplicity diagrams several regions of nonlinear behavior were detected. When such diagrams are used, process design and/or process operation changes can be carried out to remove regions where closed-loop control seems difficult. Besides, global multiplicity diagrams allowed us to detect infeasible operation regions in the form of disconnected steady states (disjoint bifurcations). In addition, input/output multiplicity and isolas were also detected whose effect on the reactor operability is discussed.