6 Chapter 1 Overview of Chemical Reaction Engineering
/ EX4MPLB 1.1 THE ROCKET ENGINE
A rocket engine, Fig. El.l, burns a stoichiometric mixture of fuel (liquid hydro-
gen) in oxidant (liquid oxygen). The combustion chamber is cylindrical, 75 cm
long and 60 cm in diameter, and the combustion process produces 108 kgls of
exhaust gases. If combustion is complete, find the rate of reaction of hydrogen
and of oxygen.
1 C o m ~ l e t ecombustion
~ Figure E l . l
We want to evaluate
-rH2-
--1- 1 dN0,
d N ~ 2
and -yo, = --
V dt V dt
Let us evaluate terms. The reactor volume and the volume in which reaction
takes place are identical. Thus,
Next, let us look at the reaction occurring.
molecular weight: 2gm 16 gm 18 gm
Therefore,
H,O producedls = 108 kgls - = 6 kmolls
(IlKt)
So from Eq. (i)
H, used = 6 kmolls
0, used = 3 kmolls
Chapter 1 Overview of Chemical Reaction Engineering 7
l and the rate of reaction is
- - - 1 .--6 kmol - 2.829 X lo4 mol used
3 - 0.2121 m3 s (m3of rocket) . s
1 kmol mol
-To = - 0.2121 m3 3 -= 1.415 X lo4
-
2 s
I Note: Compare these rates with the values given in Figure 1.3.
/ EXAMPLE 1.2 THE LIVING PERSON
A human being (75 kg) consumes about 6000 kJ of food per day. Assume that
I the food is all glucose and that the overall reaction is
from air '
C,H,,O,+60,-6C02+6H,0,
'breathe, out
-AHr=2816kJ
Find man's metabolic rate (the rate of living, loving, and laughing) in terms of
moles of oxygen used per m3 of person per second.
We want to find
Let us evaluate the two terms in this equation. First of all, from our life experience
we estimate the density of man to be
Therefore, for the person in question
Next, noting that each mole of glucose consumed uses 6 moles of oxygen and
releases 2816 kJ of energy, we see that we need
6000 kJIday )( 6 mol 0,
) mol 0,
= 12.8 day
2816 kJ1mol glucose 1mol glucose
8 Chapter 1 Overview of Chemical Reaction Engineering
I Inserting into Eq. (i)
1 12.8 mol 0, used 1day mol 0, used
= 0.002
=-
0.075 m3 day 24 X 3600 s m3 . s
Note: Compare this value with those listed in Figure 1.3.
PROBLEMS
1.1. Municipal waste water treatment plant. Consider a municipal water treat-
ment plant for a small community (Fig. P1.1). Waste water, 32 000 m3/day,
flows through the treatment plant with a mean residence time of 8 hr, air
is bubbled through the tanks, and microbes in the tank attack and break
down the organic material
(organic waste) + 0, - microbes
C 0 2 + H,O
A typical entering feed has a BOD (biological oxygen demand) of 200 mg
O,/liter, while the effluent has a negligible BOD. Find the rate of reaction,
or decrease in BOD in the treatment tanks.
Waste water,
32,000 m3/day --I Waste water
treatment plant
Clean water,
32,000 rn3/day
t
2 0 0 mg O2
t
Mean residence
t
Zero O2 needed
neededlliter time t =8 hr
Figure P1.l
1.2. Coal burning electrical power station. Large central power stations (about
1000 MW electrical) using fluidized bed combustors may be built some day
(see Fig. P1.2). These giants would be fed 240 tons of coallhr (90% C, 10%
Fluidized bed
\
50% of the feed
burns in these 1 0 units
Figure P1.2
