Stability and Dynamics of Cascade Reactors with Control Only on the First Reactor

A three reactor cascade is subjected to control with the control loop placed around the first reactor only, instead of the last, which is a usual practice. The cascade Is analyzed for stability using the Liapunov criteria, and the regions of asymptotic stability are obtained using Krasovskii's theorem; the effect of control on the cascade is estimated for different manipulated variables through simulation studies. The reactor operation under oscillating conditions is studied by generating limit cycles with proportional positive feedback around the first reactor using Bendixson's theorem and it is found to increase the overall conversions. © 1977, American Chemical Society. All rights reserved.