THE DIRECT CALCULATION OF PERIODIC STATES OF THE REVERSE FLOW REACTOR.1. METHODOLOGY AND PROPANE COMBUSTION RESULTS

The fixed-bed reactor with periodic flow reversal has been shown to be a promising technology for the autothermal combustion of weakly conce ntrated gases. Modeling works have aided in building a better understa nding of these systems, but using a dynamic simulation approach to rea ch the stable periodic orbit has been unsatisfactory. We propose a dir ect calculation method that transforms the initial-value problem into a steady-state boundary-value problem. In the steady-state formulation , standard bifurcation analysis techniques can be used to study the de pendence of the system's behavior on key parameters. Results for the c atalytic combusion of trace amounts of propane in air illustrate the s trengths of this method. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd