This work characterizes the dynamic behavior of reactors with evaporative cooling. The process under consideration is a continuous stirred tank reactor used to carry out an exothermic irreversible first-order reaction with heat removal through the wall as well as by partial evaporation of the reacting liquid followed by return of the condensate to the reactor. Bifurcation analysis is used to classify the stability character and the types of multiplicity and oscillatory behavior to be expected. A variety of practical situations is examined, including cases of volatile reactant, volatile or nonvolatile product (liquid or solid), and volatile solvent. For a fixed vapor flowrate to the condenser, the dynamic structure of reactors with evaporative cooling is qualitatively similar to the case with wall cooling alone. Other cases show significantly different structures. Cases with five steady states and two regions of three steady states are found with evaporative cooling operation, and for some conditions even seven steady states may be possible. A rich variety of dynamic behavior is predicted.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.