Tutorial 1: Isothermal Reactor Design
Reactor Technology Fundamentals
Chemical Engineering, R Rawatlal
Question 1 [15 marks]
Consider a perfectly mixed reactor operating in the steady state mode of operation in which the
following reaction occurs in the liquid phase:
A + 2B → C
The reaction is considered elementary and the kinetic rate constant is k = 2.5 x 10-3.s-1.
The feedrate to the reactor is 20 l.s-1 at concentrations of 27 mol.m-3 – A, 70 mol.m-3 – B and 105
mol.m-3 – I, where I is an inert. The reaction volume is a constant 70 m3 and the total concentration is
known to be 50 mol.m-3.
a) Show from first principles that the steady state mass balance for a CSTR is
FA0.X = -rA.V
[7 marks]
b) Develop an expression to determine the steady state conversion in the reactor in a form that
requires the solution of a single equation. Do not attempt to solve it.
[8 marks]
Question 2
Starting with a sketch, write the general reactor mole balance. Derive the design equations for the
Batch, CSTR and PFR reactor types from the general reactor mole balance.
Consider the following reaction:
2 A + B ⎯⎯
k
→ C + 2D
where k = 2x10-4 mol-A.m3.s-1/(mol.m-3)3
a) Write down the relationships between the rates of formation of each component and that of
component A. Write also the general relationship between the rates of formation of arbitrary
component i and any other component j.
b) Write down the number of moles of each component in terms of the conversion of component
A using standard definitions for conversion.
c) Write the general relationship between the number of moles of any component i and
component A using the standard definition of the inlet molar flow ratio.
d) Let’s say the molar masses of components B, C and D are 20 x 10-3, 25 x 10-3 and 15 x 10-3
[Link]-1 respectively. What is the molar mass of component A?
e) Consider that components A and B are fed to a CSTR at concentrations of 30 mol.m -3 and 30
mol.m-3 respectively. The total volumetric flowrate is 0.0417 m3.s-1 and the reactor is 50 m3 in
volume. What are the steady state production rates of components C and D? What is the
conversion of component A?
f) What should the CSTR reactor volume be to achieve a conversion of component A of 70%?
g) Consider that components A and B are charged in a batch reactor at initial concentrations of
30 mol.m-3 and 30 mol.m-3 respectively. The reactor is 50 m3 in volume. At what time will the
conversion of A in the batch reactor reach the same value as obtained in question 5?
h) In the light of the answer obtained, which reactor is better, the batch or CSTR?
Question 3
Consider that components A and B are fed to a PFR at concentrations of 30 mol.m -3 and 30 mol.m-3
respectively. The total volumetric flowrate is 0.0417 m3.s-1 and the reactor is 50 m3 in volume. What
are the steady state production rates of components C and D? What is the conversion of component
A? Which is better, the CSTR or the PFR?
Question 4
Consider the first order consumption of component-A at rate constant k = 5x10-4 s-1. The intention is
to convert 50% of a stream of the reactant available at a concentration of 2.00x104 mol.m-3 at a
flowrate of 400 mol.s-1. The Levenspiel plot is shown in Figure 1 below.
0.3
0.25
-1/r 1/[mol/m3.s]
0.2
0.15
A
0.1
0.05
0
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7
conversion X [-]
a) What are the required volumes for the corresponding CSTR, PFR and batch reactors? What
are the space times? Comment on the values achieved.
b) To achieve a lower total volume, we consider the application of two CSTRs in series, with
25% conversion achieved in the first reactor. What is the total volume required in this case?
What is the percentage difference from the single CSTR case? What is the percentage
difference from the PFR or batch case?
c) For the application of two CSTRs in series, what is the optimal conversion in the first reactor,
where the optimality criterion is the total volume of the reactor system?
d) Consider that three vessels are available to be used as reactors; the volumes are [5, 10, 15] m3.
Determine the sequence that would result in the greatest overall conversion. The rate plot is
provided in the figure below.
10
8
reaction rate, -r , [mol/m3.s]
6
A
0
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8
conversion X [-]