Development of a control strategy for efficient operation of a CSTR reactor

This paper describes the development of a suitable control strategy for the heating process of a lab-scale continuous stirred tank reactor (CSTR) is presented. Influence of the operational conditions, such as propeller speed, preheating the inlet gases and catalyst basket are analyzed. The study objectives in this paper are twofold: first, a control strategy for bringing the reactor at the operating point as fast as possible and second, a control strategy which is able to keep the system within specified temperatures interval. The results obtained indicate that the control strategies developed for the lab-scale CSTR reactor have good performance and the objectives were successfully achieved.