CONTROL OF AXIAL TEMPERATURE DISTRIBUTION IN A PACKED-BED REACTOR

Control of temperature profiles of a tubular packed-bed reactor with o ur proposed design method for a parabolic distributed parameter system is investigated. The oxidation reactor of carbon monoxide over a plat inum-catalyst is used as a controlled process. The reactor dynamics ar e modeled by a simple parabolic partial differential equation in one-d imensional space, on the assumption that temperature distribution in t he radial direction of the reactor is negligible. A state feedback con troller was designed by use of a reduced order lumped parameter system , which was obtained by applying the finite integral transform techniq ue to the phenomenological model of the process. It is demonstrated th at hot-spot temperatures can be eliminated and the axial temperature p rofile of the reactor fan be made to agree well with a specified targe t profile.