This paper presents the dynamic behaviour and the thermal instability of an auto thermal, continuous stirred-tank reactor system which has two stable operation points. The experimental conditions were chosen so that the system would have the following operation points.
1) one stable point of higher conversion.
2) two stable points of both higher and lower conversions.
3) one stable point of lower conversion
The hydration reaction of propylene oxide was chosen for study because of its high heat of reaction, its high activation energy and its significant reaction rate at room temperature.
The transient behaviour measured by experiment was shown as trajectories in concentration and temperature phase planes and was compared with the numerical results.
Agreement between the experimental data and the computer results was quite good.