Loop reactors may compete with other heat recuperating technologies, like reverse-flow reactors, for catalytic abatement of low-concentration volatile organic compounds (VOC). Their main drawback, the narrow domain of operating parameters, can be resolved with a proper control system. The main goal of this research is to extend the optimal loop-reactor design conditions derived earlier to non-adiabatic units and to reactions with non-monotonic reaction kinetics and to suggest a systematic design of control. By optimal design we imply design that expands the envelope of operation in the parameters space, and specifically one that extends the operation into lower feed concentrations. A simple analytical approximation for pulse velocity in the non-adiabatic one-dimensional (1-D) model has been derived and compared with the numerical results (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.