Abstract In this study, we focus on developing continuous reactor network models able to produce rigid polyols under strict product and safety specifications. At the same time, we determine the optimal decision profiles that lead to minimum capital cost. Decision variables include the feed rates of initiator, monomers and catalyst, reactor temperature, residence time, number and location of monomer injection points. Moreover, we narrow down the types of continuous reactors that can be part of the network to two: plug flow reactor (PFR) with multiple feed injection points and continuous stirred tank reactor (CSTR). The PFR model is a differential algebraic equation (DAE) optimization problem. The simultaneous collocation method is applied to transform the DAE into a mixed integer nonlinear programming (MINLP) problem. An iterative algorithm is proposed to solve the MINLP, where binary variables are manually fixed. The result of this strategy shows that the reactor configuration with minimum capital cost is a PFR with ten monomer injection points.

中文翻译：

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用于刚性多元醇生产的连续反应器网络设计

摘要 在这项研究中，我们专注于开发能够在严格的产品和安全规范下生产硬质多元醇的连续反应器网络模型。同时，我们确定导致最低资本成本的最佳决策配置文件。决策变量包括引发剂、单体和催化剂的进料速率、反应器温度、停留时间、单体注入点的数量和位置。此外，我们将可以成为网络一部分的连续反应器类型缩小到两种：具有多个进料注入点的活塞流反应器 (PFR) 和连续搅拌釜反应器 (CSTR)。PFR 模型是一个微分代数方程 (DAE) 优化问题。应用同时搭配方法将 DAE 转换为混合整数非线性规划 (MINLP) 问题。提出了一种迭代算法来解决 MINLP，其中二进制变量是手动固定的。该策略的结果表明，资本成本最低的反应器配置是具有 10 个单体注入点的 PFR。