Optimal Oxygen Feeding Strategy in an OCM Plug Flow Reactor

Amideddin Nouralishahi¹ Mohammadmehdi Choolaei²

1) College of Engineering, University of Tehran E-mail
2) Research Institute of petroleum industry University of Tehran, Rezvanshahr, Iran. E-mail :

Publication : International Conference on Researches in Science & Engineering(icrsie.com)
Abstract :
An optimal oxygen concentration trajectory in an isothermal OCM plug flow reactor for maximization of C2 production was determined by the algorithm of “piecewise linear continuous optimal control by iterative dynamic programming” (PLCOCIDP). The best performance of the reactor was obtained at 1085K with a yield of 53.9%; while, at its maximum value, it only reached 12.7% in case of having no control on the oxygen concentration along the reactor. Also, the effect of different parameters such as reactor temperature, contact time, and dilution ratio (N2 /CH4) on the yield of C2 hydrocarbons and corresponding optimal profile of oxygen concentration were studied. The results showed an improvement of C2 production at higher contact times or lower dilution ratios. Furthermore, it was shown that in the process of oxidative coupling of methane, controlling oxygen concentration along the reactor was more important than controlling the reactor s temperature. In addition, oxygen feeding strategy had almost no effect on the optimum temperature of the reactor. Finally, it was found that using the optimal oxygen strategy along the reactor had more effect on ethylene s selectivity compared to ethane.
Keywords : Oxidative Coupling of Methane (OCM) Modelling Optimization Reaction engineering Optimal Control.