The periodically forced conversion of 2,3-epoxy-1-propanol to glycerine: A theoretical analysis

The kinetics of the hydration of 2,3-epoxy-1-propanol to glycerine in a continuous stirred tank reactor is studied both numerically and analytically. The agreement between our numerical and analytical results, and others' experimental measurements is extremely good for the autonomous system; we predict and then verify numerically the existence of normal and inverted Hopf bifurcations. We then periodically perturb the system to obtain details of entrainment: Entrainment bandwidths, phase locking, and resonance in the amplitudes of temperature and concentrations. We also numerically calculate the dissipation and find at fixed chemical flux, conversion rate, and average output temperature, that the total dissipation is unchanged under resonance conditions, but the dissipated energy can be varied among the different heat baths and free energy sinks by varying the perturbation frequency.