ADDIS ABABA SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY UNIVERSITY
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT
Reaction Engineering I
Lecture 2
Assefa A.([Link].)
Date 20-Oct-2019
Classification of Reactors
Reactor is the heart of all chemical &biochemical process.
A vessel designed to contain chemical reactions is called a reactor.
Reactors can be classified based on
mode of operation
[Link] phases involved
mixing pattern
manner in which phases make contact with each other
catalyst used
thermal operation.
Classification of Reactors
According to mode of operation
Batch reactors
Continuous reactors
Semi batch reactors
According to no of phases involved
Homogeneous reactors – single phase reactors
Heterogeneous reactors – multiphase reactors
According to thermal operation
Isothermal reactors
Adiabatic reactors
Non-isothermal reactors
Classification of Reactors
According to presence /absence of catalyst in reaction
Catalytic reactors
Non catalytic reactors
According to a manner in which phases make contact with each
other
Packed bed reactors
fluidized bed reactor
According to end use applications
Polymerization reactors
Biological reactors
Electrochemical reactors
Cont.
Ideal reactors:- simplified models of reactors in which various
approximations are made.
These approximations allow us to describe the behaviour of the
reactor using simple mathematical expressions.
Three common ideal reactors which are used to estimate
important process variables of chemical reaction are:
Batch reactor
Continuously stirred tank reactor (CSTR)
Plug flow reactor (PFR)
Cont.
Batch Reactor
Batch reactors are normally used for:
Small-scale operation,
Testing new processes,
The manufacture of expensive products, and
Processes difficult to convert to continuous.
Seldom used for larger-scale operations
The advantage is:
high conversions can be achieved due to staying the reactants
in reactor
Suitable for processes where a range of different products or
grades is to be produced in the same equipment.
Suitable for reactions requiring long reaction times
Cont.
The disadvantages are:
high labour costs,
variability of products (batch to batch), and
difficult to operate for large-scale production.
An ideal batch reactor has the following features
All reactants are added at the commencement and the
product withdrawn at the completion of the reaction.
The operation is inherently unsteady-state
Presence of accumulation
Uniform mixing because of efficient stirring.
A heat exchanger may be provided in vessel to control
temperature
Cont.
CSTR Reactor
Normally used for liquid-phase reactions
Used for both in a laboratory and on a large scale.
It may also be used for gas-phase reactions
For laboratory investigation of gas phase reaction when
solid catalyst is involved
Stirred tanks may also be used in a series arrangement
e.g., for the continuous copolymerization of styrene and
butadiene to make synthetic rubber.
Cont.
An Ideal CSTR has the following characteristics:
Both input and output streams flow into and out from the
reactor continuously
The fluid inside reactor is perfectly mixed, and hence its
properties are uniform at any time, because of efficient
stirring.
The system operate at steady-state .
No accumulation
A heat exchanger may be provided in each vessel to control
temperature
Cont.
Plug Flow Reactor(PFR)
PFR is mainly used for gas phase reactions
It may also be used for liquid-phase
For both laboratory-scale investigations of kinetics and large-
scale production.
The reactor itself may consist of an empty tube or vessel
It also called packed bed reactor(PBR) when contain packing
or a tied bed of particles (e.g. catalyst particles).
A PFR is similar to a CSTR in being a flow reactor, but is
different in its mixing characteristics.
It is different from a BR in being a flow reactor, but is similar
in the progressive change of properties, with position replacing
time.
Cont.
An Ideal PFR has the following features or characteristics
The input and output streams are continuous
There is no axial mixing of fluid inside the vessel .
There is complete radial mixing of fluid inside the vessel
The system operate at steady-state
No accumulation
There may be heat transfer through the walls of the vessel
between the system and the surroundings
A heat exchanger may be provided in each vessel to control
temperature
The General Mole Balance
Also called material balance / mass balance
A mole balance is the basis for calculating and assessing the
quantity of a particular molecular species (reactant or
product) in a given system volume of reaction.
It is also used to determine either the time (for a batch reactor)
or the reactor volume (for flow reactors) required to convert a
specified amount of reactants into products
A material balance on any reactant species can be drawn up
through the following equations:
Cont.
Molar Flow Molar Flow Molar Rate Molar Rate
Rate of Rate of Generation Accumulation
Species j in Species j out of Species j of Species j
dN j
Fj0 Fj Gj
dt
mole mole mole mole
time time time time
Material balance for species A
In Out Generation Accumulation
dN A
FA 0 FA rA dV
dt
Batch Reactor, mole balance
Batch reactor:- a tank with an agitator and integral heating/cooling
system which may vary in size from 1 liter to 15,000 Liter
No material is supplied to or withdrawn
from the reactor during the reaction.
dN A
FA0 FA rA dV
dt
FA0 FA 0
Well-Mixed r A dV r AV
dN A
rAV
dt
The rate of formation of species A is uniform and equal to the
system
average rate, every where in the reaction.
Batch Reactor, Mole balance
dN A
Integrating dt
rAV
when t 0 N A N A0
NA
dN A
t t NA NA
t N rAV
A0
Time necessary to reduce the number of moles of A
from NA0 to NA.
Mole balance , CSTR
In this type of reactors, the chemical reactions occur
while the reacting stream is flowing through the reactor.
The reaction is operated at steady-state and this means
that the variables such as concentration, temperature etc.
at each point with in the system do not vary with time.
From the general mole balance
dN A
CSTR FA 0 FA rA dV
dt
dN A
Steady State 0
dt
Well Mixed r dV r V
A A
FA 0 FA rAV 0
FA 0 FA
V
rA
CSTR volume necessary to reduce the molar flow rate
from F to FA.
A0
Mole balance , PFR
In this reactor type, the content of the reactor is perfectly mixed
in the radial direction.
No mixing takes place in axial direction. This condition
provides the concentration, temperature, rate of
formation etc to vary continuously in the axial
direction.
It takes a small volume of the reactor to observe what happens
there in the small interval of time.
Hence the material balance has to be applied to a differential
element of volume
Cont.
The differential element of volume can be expressed in equation
form as under:
dN A
FA0 FA rA dV
dt
dN A
Steady State 0
dt
Cont.
FA0 FA rA dV 0
Differientiate with respect to V
0
dFA
rA dFA
rA
dV dV
FA
dF A
The integral form is: V
FA 0
rA
This is the volume necessary to reduce the entering molar flow
rate (mol/s) from FA0 to the exit molar flow rate of FA.
Stoichiometric Relationship in Reaction
Stoichiometric relationship explains how many molecules
of one species will be formed during a chemical reaction when
a given number of molecules of another species disappear
In another word, it shows the variation of the amount of
individual species during the course of reaction at time t.
Example: 2H2 +O2 2H2O
Cont.
Consider a given reaction below
N2 +3H2 2NH3
A reaction equation is written on one side and is set equal to
zero as expressed below:
2NH3 - N2 - 3H2 = 0
If we identify A1 with NH3; A2 with N2 and A3 with H2, then
and the reaction can be expressed as:
2A1-A2-3A3 = 0
if 1 =2 ; 2 = -1 ; 3 = -3
1A1+ 2A2+ 3 A3=0
Cont.
Cont..
Considering the following reaction,
Stoichiometric law states that the change in number of
molecules are directly related to the stoichiometric number
Thus
Where, Δnj = nj − nj,0
ΔnA= nA – nA0
ΔnB= nB – nB0
ΔnC= nC – nC0
ΔnD= nD – nD0
Cont..
Cont..
Measurements in Batch Reactor
Mole
Concentration
Mole and concentration can be expressed in terms of variables:
Conversion
Extent of the reaction
Because conversion and extent reaction are often used in the rate
expressions than concentration and mole
Cont.
Cont.
Extent of reaction
i. Mole as a function of Conversion
Consider a reaction,
AA + BB CC + DD
From stoichiometric law
Cont..
Where A and B are negative and, C and D are positive
Cont.
Consider a reaction aA + bB cC+ dD
ii. Concentration as a function of Conversion
The concentration of species j is the number of moles of j per
unit volume,
Where Vf is final volume
Consider a given reaction , aA + bB → cC + dD ,
Case1. Constant Volume Reaction System
• Mostly for liquid phase reaction
• Also for some gas phase reaction which has equal mole of reactant and
product, Δ = P - R= 0 ; i.e. equal mole of reactant and product
• V0 = Vf = constant,
• In general, the concentration of species j can be expressed as
• Total concentration
Cont..
Mole fraction
A new concept
For isothermal and variable volume system, pressure is constant
Cont.
Measurements in Continuous reactors
Molar flow rate or concentration can be expressed in terms
variables like conversion or molar extent of the reaction
Consider a reaction, aA + bB → cC + dD
From stoichiometric law,
where, ΔFj = Fj − Fj0 ; Fj0 & Fj , molar flow rates, mole / time
Cont.
Conversion
i. Molar Flow Rate as a function of Conversion
_________________________________
Cont.
Cont.
Consider a reaction, aA + bB → cC + dD
Cont.
Cont.
• For isothermal varying volume system, pressure is constant
Example1
Consider a given reaction, aA + bB → cC + dD
a. Express mole Fraction as a function of Conversion
b. Express extent of reaction as function of conversion
Example2.
For the system in which the following reaction occurs.
Assume there are initially 2 moles of CH4, 1 mole of H20,
1 mole of CO and 4 moles of H2. Write moles, ni and the
mole fraction of each species in terms of extent and
conversion of reaction?
HomeWork!
1. Sulphur dioxide is burned with air (mixture of O2 and N2) at
250C and 1atm in the following reaction.
2SO2 (g) + O2 (g) 2SO3 (g)
A B C
a. Express concentration of each species in terms of conversion of
SO2.
b. Expression mole fraction of each species in term of conversion
of SO2.
c. Initially, the feed mixture contains 40 moles SO2 and 20 moles
O2 and 40 moles of N2 as inert. Determine the mole fraction of
each species at 80% conversion of SO2?
2. For a system in which the following reaction occurs
3H2 (g) + CO (g) CH4 (g) + H2O (g)
A B C D
Develop an expression for concentration and mole fraction of all
species as a function of extent of reaction. Initially, the feed
matures are pure.