Optimal residence time policy for product yield maximization in chemical reactors

This paper analyzes the problem of optimal reactor-type selection for the maximization of product yield in continuous, segregated flow, isothemal or adiabatic chemical reactors of given volume. The mathematical treatment is valid for any type of chemical reaction network with arbitrary kinetics. For fixed mean residence time, it is shown that maximum or minimum yield of a product can always be obtained exactly or within arbitrary approximation by a combination of two plug-flow reactors. The analysis assumes strictly segregated flow, but some of the conclusions reached do not depend on the extent of micromixing.This work was partly supported by the Hellenic Refineries of Aspropyrgos, Athens, through a fellowship to I. Andreou. The first author acknowledges helpful discussions with J. H. B. Kemperman, T. G. Hallam, and S. Papadopoulou.