The behavior of the iron(III)-catalyzed oxidation of ethanol by hydrogen peroxide in a fed-batch reactor

We present a theoretical (numerical) investigation of the exothermic iron(III) nitrate-catalyzed oxidation of ethanol with hydrogen peroxide to give ethanal and acetic acid. This reaction can display temperature and concentration oscillations when it is carried out in a continuous flow stirred tank reactor (CSTR) for some operating conditions. In this study we investigate the reaction when it is performed in a fed-batch reactor (FBR). The FBR can be interpreted as a mode of operation in between a CSTR and a batch reactor. The behavior of the reaction system is studied using two models. These differ in the degree of detail in evaluating properties. They hence have different degrees of complexity. The fed-batch mode of reactor operation is found to result in a significant improvement of the yield of ethanal, which is an intermediate product, in comparison to the batch and the CSTR modes of operation. The FBR mode of operation also introduces a rich variety of complex periodic states and chaos.