Sorry that this keeps on being a topic of discussion. I did indicate in my posting that the problem might be this same one. Thanks for again providing more information on this topic on the manner in which the equations are postulated and solved.
How to know when to use an Equilibrium Reactor or recommend (be forced) to use a Fixed Conversion Reactor? The investigated reaction seems to solve at 300 C. Does it, is that correct? Does one use the Gibbs Reactor as a test to determine the "instantaneousness" of a particular reaction at a particular temperature?
Latest procedures and resultsFresh Windows 7 environment (cold boot)
COFE V2.6.0.28
load flowsheet
Equilibrium 500 (operation changed from previous)
reset & solve flowsheet
changed to Reaction @ 800
solve flowsheet
no Abort (red stop-sign) icon displayed
"Not Responding" in Task Manager
(In my previous forum posting #2, the above conditions falsely lead me to believe that COFE had crashed)
Did receive Error Message after waiting 55 s
(apparently did not wait long enough last time--never waited even close to 55 s before on a manual [Calculate this unit])
Equilibrium 300 (no change from previous operation)
reset & solve flowsheet
re-solved until solve time no longer changed from 172 ms
changed to Reaction @ 800
solve flowsheet
waited over 12 m, no pop-up error message on "iterations exceeded"
aborted, no response, waited 4 m, aborted 2nd time, waited 4 more min, aborted 3rd time, ended with Task Manager 11 m after initial abortion attempt. This type of activity fits my personal definition of a crashed s/w program.
Since you cannot reproduce the problem that still exists for me, it is time to take another direction. (Q1) Do we agree that the Reaction @ 300 is not "too fast" for use in the Equilibrium Reactor, since it seems to solve? If you do agree, then the Reaction @ 800 is the problem.
Best to avoid this trial-and-error situation, caused by Reaction @ 800, by a test to determine if a reaction is "too fast" for use in an Equilibrium Reactor. Three choices come to mind 1) look at chemical equation and guess, 2) determine Keg of a reaction and guess, or 3) use Gibbs Reactor to rate "degree of fastness" of a reaction. (Q2) Which of these or what other method(s) would you suggest as a test?