Modeling of ethylbenzene dehydrogenation kinetics process taking into account deactivation of catalyst bed of the reactor

Styrene synthesis process occurring in a two-stage continuous adiabatic reactor is a complex chemical engineering system. It is characterized by indeterminacy, nonstationarity and occurs in permanent uncontrolled disturbances. Therefore, the task of developing the predictive control system of the main product concentration of the dehydrogenation reaction - styrene to maintain this value within a predetermined range throughout the period of operation is important. This solution is impossible without the development of the process model on the basis of the kinetic revised scheme, taking into account the drop of the reactor catalytic bed activity due to coke formation on the surface. The article justifies and proposes: the drop changes dependence of catalyst bed activity as a time of reactor block operation function and improved model of chemical reactions kinetics. The synthesized mathematical model of the process is a system of ordinary differential equations and allows you: to calculate the concentration profiles of reaction mixture components during the passage of the charge through the adiabatic reactor stage, to determine the contact gas composition at the outlet of the reactor stages throughout the cycle of catalytic system, taking into account temperature changes and drop of the catalyst bed activity. The compensation of the decreased catalyst bed activity is carried out by raising the temperature in the reactor block for the duration of the operation. The estimation of the values of chemical reactions rate constants, as well as the calculation and analysis of the main and by-products concentrations of dehydrogenation reactions at the outlet of the reactor plant is curried out. Simulation results show that the change of temperature of the reactor, carried out by the exponential law considering deactivation of the catalyst bed allows the yield in a given range of technological regulations throughout the operation cycle of the reactor block.