Reactor exotérmico

A 90-minute, 4-round basic Express simulation for Spanish vocational training (Formacion Profesional), module 0111 Operaciones de reaccion en planta quimica of the Tecnico en Planta Quimica (Real Decreto 178/2008) and module 0189 Reactores quimicos of the Tecnico Superior en Quimica Industrial (Real Decreto 175/2008).

The learner is Maialen Ambite, a newly qualified plant operator of a fictional polymer firm, through 2027, at the semi-batch emulsion reactor that makes an acrylic emulsion for paint makers.

Four situations set the year's course: a new recipe after the Christmas stop, and how the monomer is dosed (at the rate the heat balance allows, never the whole charge at once) and how each batch is started (only with the reaction proven, because unreacted monomer is stored heat); the paint season with warm cooling water, and how the dosing follows the cooling (re-set to what the jacket really removes, with the high-temperature alarm in service) and what is done first on a deviation (the dosing stopped before anything else, the automatic stop tested every month); a loss of cooling (the emergency procedure) and the short-stop inhibitor (checked every month and kept for the emergency); and the restart after the rupture disc burst (the specified disc, the vent line clear and the dosing stop tested) and how excursions and changes are recorded.

Three critical errors cap the round: the whole monomer charge loaded at once, the high-temperature alarm inhibited, a restart with the vent line blanked off. KPIs: batches on specification, reactor operating cost, tonnes lost a week and process incidents. Lesson: in an exothermic reactor, stopping the feed is the first defence. Spanish primary, English parity.

Fictional plant, companies and people; real curriculum cited.

An introductory simulation that assumes no prior knowledge of the subject, designed for undergraduate courses. It also works in vocational and high-school programmes and in onboarding sessions.