Measurement and estimation in catalytic reactors for partial oxidation

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Abstract
An appropriate simplified model has been developed to describe the steady-state and dynamic behaviour of a fixed-bed catalytic reactor for the oxidation of o-xylene to phthalic anhydride. Predictions have been compared with experiments in a single-tube reactor of industrial dimensions, using measurements of temperature and composition at 26 axial positions. Experiments point out the existence of regions of moderate or high sensitivity to changes in operating conditions; the model predicts the same behaviour. However, variations in catalyst activity as a function of both time and position can lead to some ambiguity in the interpretation of results.