Abstract
As a part of the study of the computer control and optimisation of a pilot scale plant, a mathematical model is derived for the steady-state of the process in which acetone and methyl-isobutyl ketone are made from isopropanol by heterogeneous catalysis in a tubular reactor.
Using the model as an analogue computer program, the kinetics of the two reactions involved have been evaluated from results taken from a laboratory reactor. Using these kinetics and the model written as a digital computer program, the behaviour of a pilot-scale reactor has been calculated and this is compared with measured performance.
A phase-space analysis of the model is made to illustrate how this technique may be used to predict the expected control characteristics of the process.
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