Reactor Optimization in the Presence of Catalyst Decay

Interest over the past decade or so in the more quantitative aspects of catalyst deactivation has led to a body of work in the literature concerned with various reactor design/operation optimization problems that include the effects of catalyst mortality. From a chemical reaction engineering point of view these efforts provide a rather unique combination of reactor design, chemical kinetics, and optimal control theory. As was the case for much of the early work on optimization, this literature gives a number of cases of examples and counterexamples, assumptions that are sometimes stronger than the strong maximum principle, and plenty of “academic chemical reaction I” (A → B). For the hard-hats among us, some questions thus may be raised as to the practical import of much of this in terms of engineering application. Nonetheless, the sum of work is now approaching sufficient proportion to make at least a partial accounting of it worthwhile.