One of the challenges chemical engineers face with ethane cracking in a tubular reactor is the formation of a detrimental coke layer on the inner tube wall. According to the article [1], the mechanism is mainly induced by degradation of hydrocarbons to an aromatic structure by condensation and dehydrogenation.
This brings about a bunch of various effects described in the article. In my model built during the term project, I decided to introduce a new effect of reducing the diameter, consider its influence on the temperature profile, compare my results with the experimental data, and draw a reasonable conclusion with pros and cons of the new model.
To characterize the new effect, let us try to construct a simple way to represent it. For example, the new simulation can rely on the assumption that in the pipe with the initial diameter d 0 , the coke layer thickness l growths linearly over time t, and smoothly over temperature T from T 0 = 400 K (when conversion of ethane starts and is about 3 %) and goes up to saturation at T max = 1100 K. Therefore, the current diameter can be fitted with the following formula: …show more content…
In addition to that, description by the error function is much simpler than polyfit. The reason why I did not choose the conversion itself is the fact that the original effect leads to lowering of the conversion, and if I had chosen it, then the coke layer in my model would have been reduced depending on the conversion as well, which is obviously
This brings about a bunch of various effects described in the article. In my model built during the term project, I decided to introduce a new effect of reducing the diameter, consider its influence on the temperature profile, compare my results with the experimental data, and draw a reasonable conclusion with pros and cons of the new model.
To characterize the new effect, let us try to construct a simple way to represent it. For example, the new simulation can rely on the assumption that in the pipe with the initial diameter d 0 , the coke layer thickness l growths linearly over time t, and smoothly over temperature T from T 0 = 400 K (when conversion of ethane starts and is about 3 %) and goes up to saturation at T max = 1100 K. Therefore, the current diameter can be fitted with the following formula: …show more content…
In addition to that, description by the error function is much simpler than polyfit. The reason why I did not choose the conversion itself is the fact that the original effect leads to lowering of the conversion, and if I had chosen it, then the coke layer in my model would have been reduced depending on the conversion as well, which is obviously