Identification of the Attainable Region for Batch Reactor Networks

Abstract

In this work, we describe a method for automatically identifying the set of all points in concentration space that represent outlet compositions of some network of discretely fed batch reactors for a given reaction set with known kinetics. This so-called batch attainable region (BAR) is dependent on the batch network's feed and total operating time, and it is shown to be quantifiable using the Infinite DimEnsionAl State-space (IDEAS) framework. We first establish that a simple batch reactor model possesses the properties that allow application of the IDEAS framework. We then formulate the resulting IDEAS Infinite Linear Program (ILP) whose solution is guaranteed to identify the globally optimal network of batch reactors. We subsequently use a simple transformation of this IDEAS ILP that leads us to propose two algorithms that are related to the construction of the true BAR. The first is a “Shrink-Wrap”-like algorithm that is similar to that previously reported [Manousiouthakis et al. The Shrink-Wrap Algorithm for the Construction of the Attainable Region: Application of the IDEAS Framework. Comput. Chem. Eng. 2004, 28, 1563] and creates increasingly accurate approximations of a set guaranteed to contain the true BAR for all network operating times. The second is a breadth-first algorithm that creates increasingly accurate inner approximations to the BAR for a given network operating time. These two algorithms are applied to an example from the literature and are shown analytically to converge in the limit to the true BAR.