Synthesis of Optimal Chemical Reactor Networks

Abstract

The reactor is the most influential unit operation in many chemical processes. Reaction systems and reactor design often determine the character of the flowsheet. However, research in reactor network synthesis has met with limited success because of nonlinear reaction models, uncertain rate laws, and numerous possible reactor types and networks. In this paper we take advantage of attainable-region properties derived from geometric targeting techniques to design a concise reactor module for reactor network synthesis. The reactor module is made up of a continuous stirred tank reactor and a plug flow reactor (for two dimensional targeting) or a differential sidestream reactor (for higher dimensions). These modules are used to synthesize the optimal reactor network target with respect to a specific objective function, and the problem is formulated as a compact mixed integer nonlinear program. This new algorithm overcomes many of the drawbacks of existing algorithms. Finally, we solve several example problems ...