Systematic simulation of a tubular recycle reactor on the basis of pilot plant experiments

Abstract

Systematic simulation may decisively help in development and optimization of bioprocesses. By applying simulation techniques, optimal use can be made of experimental data, decreasing development costs and increasing the accuracy in predicting the behavior of an industrial scale plant.

The procedure of the dialogue between simulation and experimental efforts will be exemplified in a case study. Alcoholic fermentation of glucose by zymomonas mobilis bacteria in a gasified tubular recycle reactor was studied first by systematic simulation, using a computer model based solely on literature data. On the base of the results of this simulation, a 0.013 m³ pilot plant reactor was constructed. The pilot plant experiments, too, were based on the results of the systematic simulation.

Simulated and experimental data were well in agreement. The pilot plant experiments reiterated the trends and limits of the process as shown by the simulation results. Data from the pilot plant runs were then used to improve the simulation model. This improved model was subsequently used to simulate the performances of an industrial scale plant. The results of this simulation are presented. They show that the alcohol fermentation in a tubular recycle reactor is potentially advantageous to other reactor configurations, especially to continuous stirred tanks.