INSTABILITIES OF THE BELOUSOV-ZHABOTINSKY REACTION IN A TAYLOR VORTEXFLOW REACTOR WITH CONSTANT AXIAL-FLOW

Instabilities of the Belousov-Zhabotinsky reaction were investigated i n a Taylor vortex flow reactor with constant axial flow regarded as a one-dimensional open reaction-diffusion system. The effective axial di ffusion coefficient was used as one of the controlling parameters, and changed by varying the rotating speed of the inner cylinder. Effluent from an isothermal continuous stirred tank reactor was supplied as th e feed into the test reactor so as to clearly specify the inlet condit ion of concentration oscillation. The feed rate was changed as another controlling parameter. Irregular disturbances appeared at low-concent rations of Ce4+ when the inlet condition was singly periodic oscillati on, whereas no remarkable irregular oscillation could be found when th e inlet condition was dynamical equilibrium. The spatio-temporal oscil lation patterns were successfully described qualitatively by a numeric al simulation based on the 'Coupled Map Lattice' method using an Orego nator reaction model. The numerical results also suggested that comple x spatial and temporal behavior occurred under the inlet condition of singly periodic oscillation.