SAFETY AND SENSITIVITY ANALYSIS FOR THE PRODUCTION OF METHANOL IN A FIXED BED REACTOR

Abstract

The design of chemical reactors, especially the safe design process, requires basic knowledge of all particular processes proceeding in the reactor, and their influence on the reactor behaviour. A useful tool for safety analysis is a mathematical model of the reactor. By simulation of its performance one can reveal the real reactor behaviour. Hydrogenation of carbon dioxide into some useful products like methanol is considered as viable method to recycle the carbbn dioxide into chemical process and a method to mitigate the greenhouse effect, caused by the increasing rise in CO2 concentration in the atmosphere. And this is process is considered for the analysis of present study. In the present work, a steady state, non-isothermal model for a fixed bed reactor based on plug flow reactor (PFR) assumptions were developed. The developed model constitutes differential equations along with boundary conditions and appropriate constitutive relationships. These equations are solved by using MATLAB ODE solvers. As a part of safety analysis, the variation of different parameters that affect the performance of fixed bed reactor has been studied. The variation of temperature along the reactor length has been studied for different feed temperatures and operating pressures. And the sensitivity of the reaction kinetic parameters and porosity of catalyst has been studied.