An experimental study of multiplicity of steady states in a counter-currently cooled tubular reactor

When a chemical reaction is carried out in a counter- currently cooled tubular reactor the feedback of heat by the coolant stream may cause the occurrence of multiple steady states as well as of a hot spot whose temperature exceeds the adiabatic temperature of the reaction mixture. Experiments with the exothermic reaction between hydrogen peroxide and sodium thiosulfate in aqueous solutions using a fifty-foot long counter-currently cooled tubular reactor demonstrated these interesting phenomena. The predictions of a simple plug flow model were in good agreement with the experimental results.Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Department o