It is well known that material and energy recycle may have a profound
influence on the plant dynamics. Previous studies have shown that the
introduction of recycle typically increases the dominant time-constant
and disturbance sensitivity of the plant. In this work we consider th
e effect of recycle on the zero dynamics and show that recycle may int
roduce severe overshoots and inverse responses. Sufficient conditions
for the existence of nonminimum phase transmission zeros caused by the
presence of recycle are derived. The conditions may be evaluated base
d on steady-state information about the individual units only. The res
ults are illustrated through application to a reactor-separator system
.