MODELING AND OPTIMIZATION Of A FIXED-BED CATALYTIC REACTOR FOR PARTIAL OXIDATION OF PROPYLENE TO ACROLEIN

This study aims for the optimization of process conditions in a fixed-bed catalytic reactor system with a circulating molten salt bath, in which partial oxidation of propylene to acrolein takes place. Two-dimensional pseudo-homogeneous model is adopted with estimation of suitable parameters and its validity is corroborated by comparing simulation result with experimental data. The temperature of the molten salt and the feed composition are found to exercise significant influence on the yield of acrolein and the magnitude of hot spot. The temperature of the molten salt is usually kept constant. This study, however, suggests that the temperature of the molten salt must be axially adjusted so that the abrupt peak of hot spot should not appear near the reactor entrance. The yield of acrolein is maximized and the position and the magnitude of hot spot are optimized by the method of the iterative dynamic programming (IDP).