Stability of a continuous stirred reactor with delay in the recycle stream

The authors discuss the local stability properties of a first-order exothermic irreversible reaction carried out in a well-mixed continuously stirred tank reactor (CSTR) with a delayed recycle stream. Surprising results are obtained which suggest that, in a first-order, irreversible, exothermic reaction A→B carried out in a CSTR, the delay in the recycle stream does not affect stability of steady states. The delay still may cause increased oscillation and, perhaps, a slower response time; however, local stability is unchanged. This may allow the engineer the ability to ignore the recycle delay in the model when developing a control scheme