ADDIS ABABA SCIENCE AND

TECHNOLOGY UNIVERSITY

CHEMICAL ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT

Reaction Engineering I
Lecture 2
Assefa A.(M.Sc.)
Date 20-Oct-2019
 Classification of Reactors
 Reactor is the heart of all chemical &biochemical process.
 A vessel designed to contain chemical reactions is called a reactor.
 Reactors can be classified based on
 mode of operation
 no.of phases involved
 mixing pattern
 manner in which phases make contact with each other
 catalyst used
 thermal operation.
 Classification of Reactors
According to mode of operation
 Batch reactors
 Continuous reactors
 Semi batch reactors
According to no of phases involved
 Homogeneous reactors – single phase reactors
 Heterogeneous reactors – multiphase reactors
According to thermal operation
 Isothermal reactors
 Adiabatic reactors
 Non-isothermal reactors
 Classification of Reactors
According to presence /absence of catalyst in reaction
 Catalytic reactors
 Non catalytic reactors
According to a manner in which phases make contact with each
other
 Packed bed reactors
 fluidized bed reactor
According to end use applications
 Polymerization reactors
 Biological reactors
 Electrochemical reactors
 Cont.
Ideal reactors:- simplified models of reactors in which various
approximations are made.
 These approximations allow us to describe the behaviour of the
reactor using simple mathematical expressions.
 Three common ideal reactors which are used to estimate
important process variables of chemical reaction are:
 Batch reactor
 Continuously stirred tank reactor (CSTR)
 Plug flow reactor (PFR)
 Cont.
Batch Reactor
 Batch reactors are normally used for:
Small-scale operation,
Testing new processes,
The manufacture of expensive products, and
Processes difficult to convert to continuous.
 Seldom used for larger-scale operations
 The advantage is:
high conversions can be achieved due to staying the reactants
in reactor
Suitable for processes where a range of different products or
grades is to be produced in the same equipment.
Suitable for reactions requiring long reaction times
Cont.
 The disadvantages are:
high labour costs,
variability of products (batch to batch), and
difficult to operate for large-scale production.
 An ideal batch reactor has the following features
 All reactants are added at the commencement and the
product withdrawn at the completion of the reaction.
 The operation is inherently unsteady-state
 Presence of accumulation
 Uniform mixing because of efficient stirring.
 A heat exchanger may be provided in vessel to control
temperature
Cont.
CSTR Reactor
 Normally used for liquid-phase reactions
Used for both in a laboratory and on a large scale.
 It may also be used for gas-phase reactions
For laboratory investigation of gas phase reaction when
solid catalyst is involved
 Stirred tanks may also be used in a series arrangement
e.g., for the continuous copolymerization of styrene and
butadiene to make synthetic rubber.
Cont.
 An Ideal CSTR has the following characteristics:
 Both input and output streams flow into and out from the
reactor continuously
 The fluid inside reactor is perfectly mixed, and hence its
properties are uniform at any time, because of efficient
stirring.
 The system operate at steady-state .
 No accumulation
 A heat exchanger may be provided in each vessel to control
temperature
Cont.
Plug Flow Reactor(PFR)
 PFR is mainly used for gas phase reactions
 It may also be used for liquid-phase
 For both laboratory-scale investigations of kinetics and large-
scale production.
 The reactor itself may consist of an empty tube or vessel
 It also called packed bed reactor(PBR) when contain packing
or a tied bed of particles (e.g. catalyst particles).
 A PFR is similar to a CSTR in being a flow reactor, but is
different in its mixing characteristics.
 It is different from a BR in being a flow reactor, but is similar
in the progressive change of properties, with position replacing
time.
 Cont.
 An Ideal PFR has the following features or characteristics
The input and output streams are continuous
There is no axial mixing of fluid inside the vessel .
There is complete radial mixing of fluid inside the vessel
The system operate at steady-state
No accumulation
There may be heat transfer through the walls of the vessel
between the system and the surroundings
A heat exchanger may be provided in each vessel to control
temperature
 The General Mole Balance
 Also called material balance / mass balance
 A mole balance is the basis for calculating and assessing the
quantity of a particular molecular species (reactant or
product) in a given system volume of reaction.

 It is also used to determine either the time (for a batch reactor)

or the reactor volume (for flow reactors) required to convert a
specified amount of reactants into products

 A material balance on any reactant species can be drawn up

through the following equations:
Cont.
Molar Flow Molar Flow  Molar Rate  Molar Rate 
Rate of   Rate of   Generation    Accumulation
       
Species j in  Species j out of Species j  of Species j 
dN j
Fj0  Fj  Gj 
dt
 mole  mole  mole  mole
          
 time   time   time   time 

Material balance for species A

In  Out  Generation  Accumulation

dN A
FA 0  FA   rA dV 
dt
Batch Reactor, mole balance
Batch reactor:- a tank with an agitator and integral heating/cooling
system which may vary in size from 1 liter to 15,000 Liter
 No material is supplied to or withdrawn
from the reactor during the reaction.
dN A
FA0  FA   rA dV 
dt
FA0  FA  0

Well-Mixed r A dV  r AV

dN A
 rAV
dt

 The rate of formation of species A is uniform and equal to the

system
average rate, every where in the reaction.
Batch Reactor, Mole balance

dN A
Integrating dt 
rAV

when t  0 N A  N A0

NA
dN A
t  t NA  NA
t N  rAV
A0

 Time necessary to reduce the number of moles of A

from NA0 to NA.
Mole balance , CSTR
 In this type of reactors, the chemical reactions occur
while the reacting stream is flowing through the reactor.
 The reaction is operated at steady-state and this means
that the variables such as concentration, temperature etc.
at each point with in the system do not vary with time.
 From the general mole balance

dN A
CSTR FA 0  FA   rA dV 
dt

dN A
Steady State 0
 dt
 Well Mixed  r dV  r V
A A

FA 0  FA  rAV  0

FA 0  FA
V
rA

CSTR volume necessary to reduce the molar flow rate
from F to FA.
 A0
Mole balance , PFR
 In this reactor type, the content of the reactor is perfectly mixed
in the radial direction.

 No mixing takes place in axial direction. This condition

provides the concentration, temperature, rate of
formation etc to vary continuously in the axial
direction.
 It takes a small volume of the reactor to observe what happens
there in the small interval of time.

 Hence the material balance has to be applied to a differential

element of volume
Cont.

 The differential element of volume can be expressed in equation

form as under:

dN A
FA0  FA   rA dV 
dt

dN A
Steady State 0
dt
Cont.
FA0  FA   rA dV  0

Differientiate with respect to V

0
dFA
 rA dFA
 rA
dV dV
FA
dF A
The integral form is: V  
FA 0
rA

 This is the volume necessary to reduce the entering molar flow
rate (mol/s) from FA0 to the exit molar flow rate of FA.
Stoichiometric Relationship in Reaction
 Stoichiometric relationship explains how many molecules
of one species will be formed during a chemical reaction when
a given number of molecules of another species disappear

 In another word, it shows the variation of the amount of

individual species during the course of reaction at time t.

Example: 2H2 +O2 2H2O

Cont.
 Consider a given reaction below
N2 +3H2 2NH3
 A reaction equation is written on one side and is set equal to
zero as expressed below:
2NH3 - N2 - 3H2 = 0
 If we identify A1 with NH3; A2 with N2 and A3 with H2, then
and the reaction can be expressed as:
2A1-A2-3A3 = 0
 if 1 =2 ; 2 = -1 ; 3 = -3
1A1+ 2A2+ 3 A3=0
Cont.


Cont..
 Considering the following reaction,

 Stoichiometric law states that the change in number of

molecules are directly related to the stoichiometric number
 Thus

Where, Δnj = nj − nj,0

ΔnA= nA – nA0
ΔnB= nB – nB0
ΔnC= nC – nC0
ΔnD= nD – nD0
Cont..


Cont..

Measurements in Batch Reactor

 Mole
 Concentration
 Mole and concentration can be expressed in terms of variables:
Conversion
Extent of the reaction
 Because conversion and extent reaction are often used in the rate
expressions than concentration and mole
Cont.

Cont.
Extent of reaction

i. Mole as a function of Conversion

 Consider a reaction,
AA + BB CC + DD
 From stoichiometric law
Cont..

Where A and B are negative and, C and D are positive

Cont.
 Consider a reaction aA + bB cC+ dD
ii. Concentration as a function of Conversion
 The concentration of species j is the number of moles of j per
unit volume,

Where Vf is final volume

 Consider a given reaction , aA + bB → cC + dD ,
Case1. Constant Volume Reaction System
• Mostly for liquid phase reaction
• Also for some gas phase reaction which has equal mole of reactant and
product, Δ = P - R= 0 ; i.e. equal mole of reactant and product
• V0 = Vf = constant,
• In general, the concentration of species j can be expressed as

• Total concentration

Cont..
 Mole fraction

 A new concept

 For isothermal and variable volume system, pressure is constant

Cont.
Measurements in Continuous reactors
 Molar flow rate or concentration can be expressed in terms
variables like conversion or molar extent of the reaction

Consider a reaction, aA + bB → cC + dD

 From stoichiometric law,

where, ΔFj = Fj − Fj0 ; Fj0 & Fj , molar flow rates, mole / time
Cont.
Conversion

i. Molar Flow Rate as a function of Conversion

_________________________________
Cont.

Cont.
 Consider a reaction, aA + bB → cC + dD
Cont.

Cont.
• For isothermal varying volume system, pressure is constant
Example1
Consider a given reaction, aA + bB → cC + dD
a. Express mole Fraction as a function of Conversion
b. Express extent of reaction as function of conversion

Example2.
For the system in which the following reaction occurs.
Assume there are initially 2 moles of CH4, 1 mole of H20,
1 mole of CO and 4 moles of H2. Write moles, ni and the
mole fraction of each species in terms of extent and
conversion of reaction?
HomeWork!
1. Sulphur dioxide is burned with air (mixture of O2 and N2) at
250C and 1atm in the following reaction.
2SO2 (g) + O2 (g) 2SO3 (g)
A B C
a. Express concentration of each species in terms of conversion of
SO2.
b. Expression mole fraction of each species in term of conversion
of SO2.
c. Initially, the feed mixture contains 40 moles SO2 and 20 moles
O2 and 40 moles of N2 as inert. Determine the mole fraction of
each species at 80% conversion of SO2?
2. For a system in which the following reaction occurs
3H2 (g) + CO (g) CH4 (g) + H2O (g)
A B C D
Develop an expression for concentration and mole fraction of all
species as a function of extent of reaction. Initially, the feed
matures are pure.