On the dynamic behavior of the catalytic fixed-bed reactor in the region of multiple steady states—I. The influence of heat conduction in two phase models

Abstract

Till now the use of two phase models for the catalytic fixed-bed reactor in the region of multiple steady states led to somewhat confusing results. A continuum of multiple steady state solutions has been obtained no matter whether the continuous two phase models proposed by Liu and Amundson or the cell models developed by Amundson and co-workers were used. It will be shown in this paper that the infinite multiplicity of steady states is reduced to a few solutions if one assumes heat conduction to take place in the catalyst phase. Differences between former models and the proposed model are explained in the example of ignition and blow-out of reaction.