Dynamic modeling and control of a fluidized bed reactor for the oxidative dehydrogenation of ethylbenzene to styrene

Abstract

A dynamical model is proposed for a fluidized bed catalytic reactor for the production of styrene by oxidative dehydrogenation of ethylbenzene. A parametric sensitivity analysis carried out previously (Elnashaie et al., 1991) showed the feasibility of the fluidized bed technology to produce styrene in the reactor on a continuous basis. The static and dynamic bifurcation of the reactor model carried out in this paper shows that the reactor is to be operated in a multiplicity region in order to yield a maximum production rate of styrene.A model predictive control strategy is used with the proposed dynamic model for the tight control of the reactor. The performances of the control algorithm are illustrated for both perfect and imperfect models.