The sensitivity of a chemical reactor is defined by the matrix which relates the steady state gain of output variables to unit step changes in input variables. This definition proves applicable to reactors with arbitrary residence time distributions. The sensitivity calculation is illustrated by treating a specific example.
Three ordinary differential equations which govern the transient behavior of a CFSTR with two consecutive reactions are numerically solved to demonstrate the parametric sensitivity and temperature runaway phenomena for some parameters such as the feed temperature, the feed concentration, the heat transfer coefficient and the wall temperature. The estimation of the regions of parametric sensitivity is briefly discussed.