Plug Flow Reactor . . .
PFR Example
Closed Form Solution
Exercise
Chapter 2
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Design Equations in Terms of Conversion
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Plug Flow Reactors
JJ II
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Plug Flow Reactor . . .
PFR Example
1. Plug Flow Reactor (PFR) Closed Form Solution
Exercise
The number of moles of a species at any given conversion is given by
FA = FA0 (1 − X) (1) Home Page
The mole balance equation for a PFR is given by
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−dFA
= (−rA ) (2)
dV
Substituting 1 into 2 JJ II
dFA0 (1 − X)
= (−rA ) (3)
dV J I
Which simplifies to
dX Page 2 of 7
FA0 = (−rA ) (4)
dV
This is a straight forward ordinary differential equation that can be solved using
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standard techniques. Either by separating and integrating Equation 4 to yield
an expression for the volume of a PFR or by using numerical techniques to solve
Equation 4 Full Screen
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Plug Flow Reactor . . .
PFR Example
Closed Form Solution
Z V Z X Exercise
1
dV = FA0 dX
0 0 (−rA )
Z X
1 Home Page
VP F R = FA0 dX (5)
0 (−rA )
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2. PFR Example
Plot conversion (X) as a function of time for a PFR that has 2 liter/min of a JJ II
solution of A (2.5 mole/liter) flowing through it. The functional form of the
reaction rate (−rA ) is k (CA0 (1 − X))2 where k = 0.05 liter/ (mole · s). What
is the volume of the PFR needed to achieve a conversion of 0.9 (See 1). J I
function conversionPFR()
%Input Data Page 3 of 7
ca0=2.5;
v0=2.0/60.0;
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k=0.1;
%ODE Solver Solution Full Screen
[V,X]=ode23(@fca,[0,10],[0],’’,ca0,k,v0);
%Plot both sets of data Close
plot(V,X,’Linewidth’,3)
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Plug Flow Reactor . . .
PFR Example
xlabel(’Volume’,’FontSize’,14,’FontWeight’,’Bold’); Closed Form Solution
ylabel(’X’,’FontSize’,14,’FontWeight’,’Bold’);
Exercise
title(’ode23 Solution’,’FontSize’,14,’FontWeight’,’Bold’)
%ODE function Home Page
function dcadt=fca(V,X,ca0,k,v0)
dcadt=k.*(ca0.*(1-X)).^2./(ca0*v0);
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Figure 1: ODE solution
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Plug Flow Reactor . . .
PFR Example
3. Closed Form Solution Closed Form Solution
Exercise
Separation of variables and integration yields Equation 6. This equation can be
solved by evaluating the integral analytically (Appendix A, Fogler) or numeri-
cally using MATLAB or a calculator. Home Page
Z 0.9
1
VP F R = CA0 v0 dX (6)
0
2 (1
k CA0 − X)2 Title Page
3.1. Analytic Solution JJ II
From Appendix A of Fogler, the integral evaluates to
Z x
1 x J I
2 dx = 1 − x (7)
0 (1 − x)
The volume of the PFR is given by Page 5 of 7
CA0 v0 X Go Back
VP F R = 2 1−X
k CA0
2.5 mole 2 liter min mole · s liter2 0.9
VP F R = | | | | 2 2
| Full Screen
liter min 60 s 0.1 liter 2.5 mole 1 − 0.9
VP F R = 1.2 liter
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Plug Flow Reactor . . .
PFR Example
3.2. Numerical Solution Closed Form Solution
The calculator solution using a TI-89 is Exercise
2.5*2/60/(0.1*2.5^2)*int(1/(1-x)^2,x,0,0.9)
1.2
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The MATLAB solution is
function PFRNumericIntegration() Title Page
%Input Data
ca0=2.5;
v0=2.0/60.0; JJ II
k=0.1;
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fra=@(x) 1./(1-x).^2;
vpfr=ca0*v0/(k*ca0^2)*quadl(fra,0,0.9) Page 6 of 7
vpfr =
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1.2000
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Plug Flow Reactor . . .
PFR Example
4. Exercise Closed Form Solution
Exercise
Find the time required to convert a 0.5 mole/liter solution of A to 0.075 mole/liter
in a PFR reactor. The reaction is first order ((−rA ) = k CA ) with k = 0.005s−1
and v0 = 0.5liter/s. Home Page
Solution
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