A Systematic Approach for the Design and Analysis of Reaction-Separation Systems with Recycle

This paper presents a methodology for a systematic model-based analysis and the results obtained from it for an integrated design and analysis of reaction-separation systems with recycle. The methodology (systematic approach) consists of three stages where stage 1 identifies the limiting values of the design/operation variables; stage 2 identifies the goal/target values of a related set of design/operation variable's and stage 3 verifies/validates the result of stages 1 and 2. The methodology decomposes the problem in such way that every stage generates information (data) and resolves a subset of design and operational issues. This information generation is cumulative so that at the last stage all-important (and relevant) data of the process becomes known while all-important design and operation issues become resolved. Two reaction-separation systems have been chosen as preliminary case studies to illustrate the methodology. The first example considers a second-order reaction while the second example comprises a consecutive first-order reaction system.