Dynamic simulation and control of auto-refrigerated CSTR and tubular reactor for bulk styrene polymerization

Dynamic simulation and control of a two-stage continuous bulk styrene polymerization process is developed to predict the performance of auto-refrigerated CSTR and tubular reactors. The tubular reactor is subdivided into three temperature-control jacket zones. In this paper temperature control of auto-refrigerated continuous stirred tank reactor and tubular reactor are carried out, simultaneously. Two strategies are proposed for the control of tubular reactor. At the first strategy the controlled variable is jacket temperature and in the second strategy the controlled variable is the reactor temperature at the exit of each section. The set points for polymer grade transition are obtained using optimization of reactors temperatures via genetic algorithm (GA). Simulation results show that both of the control strategies are successful but second strategy has better performance in the control of polymer properties in the presence of disturbance and model mismatch.

► Dynamic simulation of a two-stage continuous styrene polymerization is developed.
► Five controllers are used for control of auto-refrigerated CSTR and tubular reactors.
► Two control strategies based on reactor or jacket temperatures are proposed.
► The second strategy based on reactor temperature has better performance.