REACTOR PHYSICS DESIGN STUDIES

The RC1 is an automated laboratory batch/semi-batch reactor for calorimetric studies which has proven precision. The calorimetric principle used and the physical design of the system are sound. The application of the RC1 extends from process safety assessments including calorimetric measurements, to chemical research, to process development, and to optimization. The ability of the RC1 to generate accurate and reproducible data under simulated plant scale operating conditions may result in considerably reduced testing time and fewer small scale pilot plant runs. 

NNC engineering support to the EFR Associates reactor design studies in the areas of core physics, safety, ISIR, containment, DHR and feedback of PFR experience,... 

Hydrodynamics, mass, and heat transfer in the commonly used three-phase fixed-bed reactors were briefly outlined. Also, scale-up rules and alternative ways to scale down trickle-bed reactors are discussed. In spite of the extensive studies on the hydrodynamics, mass, and heat transfer in three-phase fixed-bed reactors, clearly, a lot of work remains to be done in providing a fundamentally based description of the effect of pressure on the parameters of importance in three-phase fixed-bed reactors operation, design, and scale-up or scale-down. It is evident that atmospheric data and models/correlations cannot, in general, be extrapolated to operation at elevated pressures. The physics conveyed by the standard two-phase flow models is minimalistic because it insufficiently describes the role and presence of interfaces and their thermodynamic properties. The explicit inclusion of interfaces and interfacial properties is essential because they are known to have a significant role in determining the thermodynamic state of the whole system. 

Conceptual designs of the SPINNOR and VSPINNOR are mainly developed by the Reactor Physics Laboratory of the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB), Indonesia. There is cooperation with the National Atomic Energy Agency (BATAN-Indonesia), especially with its Advanced Reactor System Division to perform certain optimization studies. 

Kuijper, J., et al., 2006. HTGR reactor physics and fuel cycle studies. Nuclear Engineering and Design 236, 615—634. 

The PIFs increased the likelihood of the strong stereotype takeover in the case study were the fact that the worker was more used to operating the valve for reactor B than reactor A, together with the distracting environment. In addition, the panel was badly designed ergonomically, and valves A and B were poorly labeled and quite close physically. On the basis of the evaluation of the PIFs in the situation, the internal error mechanisms could be stereotype takeover or spatial misorientation. 

In the design of an industrial scale reactor for a new process, or an old one that employs a new catalyst, it is common practice to carry out both bench and pilot plant studies before finalizing the design of the commercial scale reactor. The bench scale studies yield the best information about the intrinsic chemical kinetics and the associated rate expression. However, when taken alone, they force the chemical engineer to rely on standard empirical correlations and prediction methods in order to determine the possible influence of heat and mass transfer processes on the rates that will be observed in industrial scale equipment. The pilot scale studies can provide a test of the applicability of the correlations and an indication of potential limitations that physical processes may place on conversion rates. These pilot plant studies can provide extremely useful information on the temperature distribution in the reactor and on contacting patterns when... 

I have found the above problem useful as the basis for a case study in a graduate course in chemical reactor design. The students (alone or in groups) carry out systematic studies of changes in process variables and in the physical configuration of the reactor. Their results serve as a framework for class discussions of the trade-offs one must make in attempting to develop a quasi-optimum reactor design. 

There are several control problems in chemical reactors. One of the most commonly studied is the temperature stabilization in exothermic monomolec-ular irreversible reaction A B in a cooled continuous-stirred tank reactor, CSTR. Main theoretical questions in control of chemical reactors address the design of control functions such that, for instance (i) feedback compensates the nonlinear nature of the chemical process to induce linear stable behavior (ii) stabilization is attained in spite of constrains in input control (e.g., bounded control or anti-reset windup) (iii) temperature is regulated in spite of uncertain kinetic model (parametric or kinetics type) or (iv) stabilization is achieved in presence of recycle streams. In addition, reactor stabilization should be achieved for set of physically realizable initial conditions, (i.e., global... 

The viability of one particular use of a membrane reactor for partial oxidation reactions has been studied through mathematical modeling. The partial oxidation of methane has been used as a model selective oxidation reaction, where the intermediate product is much more reactive than the reactant. Kinetic data for V205/Si02 catalysts for methane partial oxidation are available in the literature and have been used in the modeling. Values have been selected for the other key parameters which appear in the dimensionless form of the reactor design equations based upon the physical properties of commercially available membrane materials. This parametric study has identified which parameters are most important, and what the values of these parameters must be to realize a performance enhancement over a plug-flow reactor. 

---