(1) What does Chemical Reaction Engineering study?
What is the aim of Chemical Reaction
Engineering?
Chemical reaction engineering is that engineering activity concerned with the exploitation of
chemical reactions on a commercial scale.
(2) The definition of Reaction Rate.
If the rate of change in number of moles of component i due to reaction is dNi/dt, the rate of
reaction is defined as follows:
The most commonly used form
Based on unit volume of reacting fluid :
For reactant, -ri= - dNi/Vdt: means disappear
1 dNi mole i formed
ri
V dt volume ofForfluid
product, ri=dNi/Vdt: means produce
time
For constant volume ri=dCi/dt
Based on unit mass of solid in fluid - solid system
1 dN i mole i formed
ri
W dt mass of solid time
Based on unit interfacial surface in two - liquid system
or based on unit surface of solid in gas - solid systems :
1 dN i mole i formed
ri
S dt surface time
Based on unit volume of solid in gas - solid systems :
1 dN i mole i formed
ri
Vs dt volume of solid time
Based on unit volume of reactor, in diferent from the
rate based on unit volume of fluid,
1 dN i mole i formed
ri
Vr dt volume of reactor time
(3) How to quantify the rate of reaction?
The Rate Equation
(4) The definition of conversion
Suppose that NA0 is the initial amount of A in the reactor at time t=0, and that NA is the amount
present at time t.
XA=(NA0-NA)/ NA0
The conversion of A in the constant volume system is given by
N A0 N A N V C
XA 1 A 1 A
N A0 N A0 V C A0
dC A
dX A
C A0
CA=CA0(1- XA)
(5) Expansion factor
We require that the volume of a fluid element changes linear with conversion, or V=V0(1+AXA)
(6) Molecularity and Order of Reaction
Molecularity of an elementary reaction is the number of molecules involved in the reaction,
and this has been found to have the values of one, two, or occasionally three.
Note that the molecularity refers only to an elementary reaction.
For an elementary reaction, molecularity is equal to the order of reaction.
(7) Temperature dependent term of a rate equation
E
Arrhenius law k k0 e RT
Activation energies E: Reaction with high activation energies are very temperature-sensitive
Frequency factor k0: the value of the frequency factor k0 does not affect the temperature sensitivity
(8) The aim of reactor design
Determine the size and type, and method of operation for a given job.
(9) How to choose the element of volume in reactor design?
Under the condition that the temperature and the composition are uniform, choose the element
of volume as large as possible. Therefore, for the Batch Reactor and Mixed Reactor, the whole
reactor is chosen as the element of volume; while for the Plug Flow Reactor, a differential element
of volume is chosen.
(10) The starting point for all design is the material balance
(11) In non-isothermal operations energy balances must be used in conjunction with
material balances.
(12) The performance equation of Batch Reactor
The steps: a) choose the element of volume; b) perform material balance; c) treat and rearrange
above equations.
The reactants are initially charged into a container, are well mixed, and left to react for a
certain period. This is an unsteady-state operation where composition changes with time, but at
any instant the composition throughout the reactor is uniform.
Choose the whole reactor as the element of volume
The volume of the whole reactor is V
Make a material balance for any component A:
(13) Reaction time, space-time and space-velocity
Just as the reaction time t is the natural performance measure for a batch reactor, so are the
space-time and space-velocity the proper performance measures of flow reactor.
Space-time:
time required to process one
1
reactor volume of feed measured time
Space-velocity:
s number of reactor volume of
1 at specified condition 1
s feed at specified condition which time
Thus, a space-velocity of 5hr-1 means that five reactor volumes of feed at specified condition are
being fed into the reactor per hour. A space-time of 2 min means that every 2 min one reactor
can be treated in unit time
volume of feed at specified conditions is being treated by reactor.
1 C V
A0
s FA0
moles A entering
volume of feed
volume of reactor
moles A entering
time
V reactor volume
v0 volumetric feed rate
(14) The performanceNoteequation
above isof under
Plug actual feed condition
Flow Reactor
For through
The flow of fluid and s, the
the relation
reactor isbetween
orderly actual
with noand standard
element of fluid overtaking or
mixing. There must condition
be no mixingis given by along the flow path. The necessary and sufficient
or diffusion
condition for plug flow is1 for C Vresidence
the C time1inCthe
A0 reactor to be the same for all elements of
A0 A0
fluid. s FA0 C A0 s C A0
(15) The performance equation of Mixed Reactor
In this reactor the contents are well stirred and uniform throughout. The exit stream from this
reactor has the same composition as the fluid within the reactor.
No integration for this kind of reactor!
