PERIOD-ADDING AND CHAOS IN FLUIDIZED-BED CATALYTIC REACTORS

A conventional Proportional-Integral-Derivative (PID) controller is co nsidered for the stabilization of a non-isothermal fluidized bed catal ytic reactor with consecutive exothermic reactions, modeled using the two-phase theory of fluidization. The investigation, although in a res tricted region of the parameter space, has uncovered a good part of th e rich dynamic characteristics; of the controlled unit, including sequ ences of burst patterns that undergo transition from simple to complex oscillatory behavior. The alternation between the period-doubling seq uence and the saddle-node bifurcation creates the chaotic regime while the generation and persistence of complex bursting are associated wit h the period-adding bifurcation. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science L td