Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research, Vol.40, No.19, 4089-4101, 2001
Design and control of tubular reactor systems with both gas and liquid recycles
Previous studies of tubular reactor systems have explored flowsheets with either a gas recycle or a liquid recycle. In this paper, we extend this work to consider a flowsheet with two recycle streams: a large gas recycle from a separator drum and a small liquid recycle from a distillation column. Both the steady-state economics and the dynamic controllability of this dual-recycle system are compared with those of single-recycle processes. Three kinetic cases are considered: an irreversible reaction with moderate activation energy, an irreversible reaction with high activation energy, and a reversible reaction. Results demonstrate that the dual-recycle flowsheet is less expensive than the liquid-recycle system for the irreversible reaction case, particularly for the high activation energy where the total annual cost is 50% less. In the reversible reaction case, the liquid-recycle system is less expensive, because of the need for a high-purity recycle. Control structures are developed for all three flowsheets. that provide effective regulatory control for large disturbances.