Normal form analysis of multiple bifurcations in incompletely mixed chemical reactors

Abstract

Using the theory of normal forms, we investigate the effects of mixing in a continuous flow stirred tank reactor (CSTR) for a reaction model exhibiting oscillatory behavior in the vicinity of a degenerated bifurcation point (here, a Takens–Bogdanov point). In addition we show without specification of a particular reaction system that, as long as reaction rates remain much slower than the inverse mixing time, incomplete mixing introduces a new bifurcation parameter for nonpremixed feeding conditions, whereas premixed feeding conditions merely lead to a renormalization of flow rate.