Process optimization of reactives systems by partially reduced SQP methods

The increasing demand for optimization in process control of reactive syste ms necessitates the development of fast and reliable software for the numer ical computation of optimal controls taking into account the special struct ures of the chemical systems under investigation. A recently developed algo rithm based on partially reduced SQP methods is used for the computation of optimal controls following the direct approach. In this work, this algorit hm is coupled with a package for the simulation of homogeneous reactive sys tems, which provides the specific routines for the description of the probl em at hand. The combined code takes advantage from the fact that the number of influence variables to be determined is rather low compared with the ov erall number of variables. For example, the computation tool developed is a pplied to study the homogenous oxidative coupling of methane. (C) 2000 Else vier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.