The dynamic behaviour of a three reactors network (or ring reactor), with periodic change of the feed position, was investigated in a previous work for low pressure methanol synthesis, showing that cyclic steady-states and autothermal processing can be obtained, leading to higher conversions than traditional devices. Furthermore, complex dynamics-highly periodic steady-states and multiplicity of periodic steady-states-may arise, close to the conditions of maximum conversion. A simple open loop control policy, which can be useful for a safe start-up, was also tested to study the response of the network to disturbances on the input parameters, showing that a more robust control strategy is needed for this application. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.