The dynamic behavior of continuous solution polymerization reactors—A full bifurcation analysis of a full scale copolymerization reactor

Abstract

In a previous paper, Pinto and Ray developed a mathematical model to describe the dynamic behavior of continuous solution copolymerization reactors and validated the model experimentally. Now, the model is used to analyze the dynamic behavior of industrial scale copolymerization reactors, where reactor pressure is allowed to increase beyond the limits analyzed experimentally. It is shown that the dynamic behavior of full scale reactors may be much more complex than presented before and that thoroidal and chaotic oscillations may arise at different regions of the parameter space.