DOI: https://doi.org/10.36347/sjet.2026.v14i06.006

Pages: 355-363

This study investigated the optimization of ethylene production in a plug flow reactor (PFR) through mathematical modeling, simulation, sensitivity analysis, and process optimization. A comprehensive reactor model was developed based on material and energy conservation principles under steady-state operating conditions. The model incorporated the kinetics of ethane steam cracking and accounted for the effects of reactor temperature and reactant concentration on ethylene production. The resulting system of coupled ordinary differential equations was solved numerically using the Runge–Kutta ODE45 algorithm in MATLAB R2023b. Simulation results were used to evaluate key reactor performance parameters, including reactor diameter, reactor length, reactor volume, volumetric flow rate, residence time, and space velocity, which were found to be 1.6 m, 20 m, 40.21 m³, 0.40 m³/s, 10 s, and 0.0995 s⁻¹, respectively. A sensitivity analysis was conducted to investigate the effects of catalyst effectiveness factor, volumetric flow rate, reactor temperature, residence time, and inlet ethane concentration on ethylene production and reactor performance. The analysis revealed that variations in these parameters significantly influenced ethylene concentration, fractional conversion, and reactor temperature profiles.