Optimal Design of Ammonia Synthesis Reactor

Abstract

In this work, an optimization framework is used to obtain useful model for an ammonia synthesis reactor that can be confidently applied to reactor design, operation and control. The main objective in the optimal design of such reactor is the estimation of the optimal reactor length for obtaining the maximum profit from the reactor at the best top temperature with satisfying the process constraints. gPROMS package has been used for modelling, simulation and optimal design via optimization. The optimization problem is posed as a Non-Linear Programming (NLP) problem and is solved using a Successive Quadratic Programming (SQP) method. New results are obtained for reactor length and optimal cost of the reactor. The effect of various top temperatures on the reactor performance is investigated and the simulation of ammonia reactor at each top temperature that provides further insight of the process has also been presented.