Multi-objective Genetic Optimization of Ethane Thermal Cracking Reactor

An industrial ethane thermal cracking reactor was modeled assuming a molecular mechanism for the reaction kinetics coupled with material, energy, and momentum balances of the reactant-product flow along the reactor. To carry out the multi-objective optimization for two objectives such as conversion and ethylene selectivity, the elitist non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm was used. The Pareto optimum set was obtained successfully and finally the effect of the decision variable was discussed.