Behavior of a CSTR with a recirculating jacket heat transfer system

Continuously stirred tank reactors (CSTRs) with a recirculating jacket heat transfer system may have more interesting dynamic behavior than the classical representation of a "once through" jacket. A particular CSTR with a single steady-state as a function of jacket temperature may have multiple steady-state behavior if the jacket inlet temperature is considered to be the manipulated input. A cascade control strategy with jacket inlet temperature as the secondary variable may not stabilize the reactor, although one with the jacket outlet temperature does. The jacket recirculation flowrate is a bifurcation parameter that determines whether or not there is multiple steady-state behavior.