Chemical Reactor Technology

Notes Prepared by:

Dr. Husain Bahzad
CH1: Mole
Balances
 Chapter Outline

• Describe the chemical reaction and distinguish between physical and chemical change.

• Define and illustrate the reaction rate.

• Derive the general mole balance equation and apply it for the most common types of chemical
reactors.
 1.Introduction

Chemical Reaction
Chemical Reaction Chemical Kinetics Engineering

Is the science which

Is the change in the Is the study of chemical combines the chemical
chemical identity of one or reaction rates and kinetics with reactor
more chemical species mechanism design and analysis
 1.1 reaction rate

• The chemical reaction occurred when one or more components

loses their chemical identity.

• The identity of chemical species is determined by the kind, number

and configuration of that species atoms.

• Ex: Methane (CH4) has two kinds of atoms; carbon and hydrogen,
1 atom of carbon and 4 atoms of hydrogen bonding together in
specific structure giving methane its identity.
 1.1 reaction rate

• Even two species may have similar kinds and number of atoms but their chemical identity is
different due to the difference in their structure.

• Ex:

• In general the total mass of all species in the system does not change. However, the mass of
individual species involved in chemical reaction changes.

• The molecules of species undergoes a reaction may disappear or reform to form new species.
 1.1 reaction rate

••  The three ways a species loses its chemical identity are summarised as

1. Decomposition:

2. Combination:

3. Isomerisation:
 Examples of
Chemical
reactions
https://youtu.be/wqErrNvns4o
 2Al + 3I2 Al2I6
 1.1 reaction rate

• To
  illustrate the reaction rate constant, consider the reaction of chloral (A) and chlorobenzene(B) to
produce DDT (C) and water (D) as:

• The rate of reaction () is defined as the number of moles of A (chloral) reacting (disappearing) per
unit time per unit volume.

• The reaction rate is negative if the species is consumed, positive if the species are generated.
 1.1 Rate of reaction

•  The reaction rate is the rate at which a species loses its chemical identity per unit
volume (how fast the reaction proceed).

• For the batch reactor, with the following reaction takes place:

• The reaction rate can be represented as:

  ⅆ𝐶𝐴
−𝑟 𝐴=
ⅆ𝑡

Where: is the concentration of reactant A

t is the reaction time.
 1.1 Rate of reaction

•  Example:
For the following reaction: AB
If , then: A
• The rate of consumption of A is 0.2 mol per
second per 1L of reactor volume.
• The rate of production of B is 0.2 mol per B
second per 1L of reactor volume.
AB
 1.1 Rate of reaction

• Factors affecting the rate of reaction:

1. Types of reactant or products.
Ex: fuels usually have high reaction rate i.e fast reaction when reacted with oxygen.
However, the fermentation of sugar to alcohols is slow (low rate of reaction).

2. The concentration of reactant or products.

3. Reaction temperature and pressure.

4. The presence of reaction enhancer (catalyst) or depressant (inhibitor).

 1.2 The General Mole Balance Equation

•  The general mole balance for species j in an enclosed system at any time t is written as:

(1-3)
 1.2 The General Mole Balance Equation

••  The rate of generation for component j by chemical reaction is:

• If the concentration and temperature do not vary with system volume (perfectly mixed),
then is given by:

• Substituting the rate of generation term in Eq. (1.3) result in the general mole balance
Eq:
 1.3 Batch Reactor

• A batch reactor is a type of reactor where the reactant are fed into the reactor and left for a
certain period of time then the products are discharged.

• The time spend by the reactant in the batch reactor depend on the required conversion.

• Batch reactor is used for small operation, testing new processes, manufacture of expensive
material (pharmaceutical industry).
 1.3 Batch reactor

• The following table summarises the advantages and disadvantages of batch reactor:

Advantages Disadvantages

• High labour cost.

• High conversion is achievable. • Variability of product from batch to batch.

• Difficulty of large-scale production

 1.3 Batch reactor

•  A batch reactor has no inflow or outflow. Thus, applying the general mole balance on the batch
reactor results:

• Usually, the batch reactor is perfectly mixed, then the general mole balance for batch reactor
is:
 1.3 Batch reactor

•  The mole balance equation for batch reactor (Eq.1.5) is in deferential form.

• For the reaction: , Eq.(1.5) can be rearranged as:

• If the number of moles of reactant A consumed from (initial number of moles) to (final
number) during reaction time t1, then the reaction time t1 is determined via:
 1.4 Continuous-Flow Reactors

• Continuous flow reactor are operated at steady-state (independent of time). Three types of
continuous reactors will be considered here:

1. Continuous stirred tank reactor (CSTR)

2. Plug flow reactor.

3. Packed bed reactor

 1.4.1 Continuous stirred tank reactor (CSTR)

• CSTR reactor or also called “back-mixed reactor” are most commonly used reactor in industry.

• It is primarily used for liquid-phase reactions.

• No spatial variation (perfect mixing) i.e the concentration, temperature and other reaction
parameters are fixed (equal) in every part of the reactor and equal to these in the product stream
from the reactor.
 1.4.1 Continuous stirred tank reactor

•  Applying the general mole balance for CSTR reactor to obtain the reactor volume as:
 1.4.2 Tubular Reactor

• Tubular reactors are cylindrical reactor operating at steady-state and used normally to carry out
gas-phase reactions.

• In tubular reactor, the concentration, temperature of the reactants and products are changing
along the reactor length in the axial direction.

• The flow in tubular reactor here is assumed as plug flow i.e no radial variation of the velocity
in turbulent flow).
 1.4.2 Tubular Reactor

•  The design equation for PFR reactor is derived from Eq.(1-4) as:

• At steady-state, = 0. Differentiating Eq.(1.4) with respect to volume yields:

 1.4.2 Tubular Reactor

•  Consider a gas-phase reaction, is carried out in PFR reactor where are the inlet and outlet flow
rate of A.

• Rearranging Eq.(1-11) yields:

• Integrating the above equation enable us to determine the volume of the PFR reactor necessary
to consume A from to
 1.4.3 Packed Bed Reactor (PBR)

• In packed bed reactor, heterogenous reactions takes place i.e gas-solids or liquid solids
reactions.

• The reactions are occurring at the surface of the solid catalyst.

• The catalyst is a solid material which provides high surface area for reaction to take place.

• The mass of the solid catalyst used to required to consume the reactant and generate products
is the design parameter for PBR reactor
 1.4.3 Packed Bed Reactor (PBR)

•  The reaction rate for PBR reactor, for the reaction: is defined as the moles of reactant A per
mass of catalyst used and referred as .

• Applying the general mole balance equation to determine the weight of the catalyst used for
steady-state PBR reactor as:

• Differentiating the above equation with respect to W results:

 1.4.3 Packed Bed Reactor (PBR)

•  When the pressure through the PBR reactor is constant and the catalyst is always active, Eq.(1-
15) can be rearranged as:

• Integrating the above equation to obtain the weight of the catalyst used as:
 1.5 Industrial Reactors

Reactor Reactions phase Advantages Disadvantage

• High labour cost.

Batch Liquid High conversion is achievable
• Variability of product from
batch to batch
• High labour cost.
• Liquid Better temperature control by
Semi-Batch
• Gas-liquid reactions minimising side reactions • Variability of product from
batch to batch
Easy to control the concentration
CSTR Liquid Low conversion
and temperature
 1.5 Industrial Reactors

Reactor Reactions phase Advantages Disadvantage

Difficult to control the
PFR Gas High conversion
temperature (hot spots)
• Hot spots
• Gas-solids
PBR High Conversion • Need to replace spent
• Liquid-solids
catalyst
• Even temperature distribution.
• Easy catalyst replacement.
Fluidised Bed • Liquid-solids
• High cost
• Gas-solids
• Handle large amount of feed