CHE424

Chemical Reaction Engineering II

Note 4: Tank-in-series model

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 The Tanks-in-Series Model
• This model can be used whenever the dispersion
model is used; and for not too large a deviation
from plug flow both models give identical results,
for all practical purposes. Which model to use
depends on your taste. The dispersion model has
the advantage in that all correlations for flow in
real reactors invariably use that model. On the
other hand the tanks-in-series model is simple,
can be used with any kinetics, and it can be
extended without too much difficulty to any
arrangement of compartments, with or without
recycle. 2
• Pulse response experiment and the RTD
• The system being considered is in figure 1.
defining terms;

Figure 1: Tanks-in-series model

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• At any particular time from Note 1;

• For the first tank; consider a steady flow v (m3/s)

of fluid into and out of the first ideal mixed flow
units of volume V1. At time t = 0 inject a pulse of
tracer into the vessel which when evenly
distributed in the vessel has a concentration C0.
• At any time t after the tracer is introduced, make
a material balance;
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• In symbols this expression becomes;

• Where C1 is the concentration of tracer in tank

“1”. Separating and integrating;

• Or

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• For the first tank; (1)

• For the second tank

• Here C1 enters and C2 leaves, a material
balance gives;

• Separating give a first-order differential

equation which on integration gives;
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 (2)

• For the nth-order. Integration for 2nd, 3rd, 4th …nth

tank becomes more complicated so it is simpler
to do all of this by Laplace transforms.
• The RTDs, means and variances both in time and
dimensionless time were first derived by
MacMullin and Weber (1935), summarized by
eqn. (3). Graphically the eqns. are displayed in
Fig. 2. The properties are sketched in Fig. 3.

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(3)

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Figure 2: RTD curves for the tank-in-series

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Figure 3: Properties of RTD Curves for tank-in-series model

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Comments and extension

1)- If M tanks are connected to N more tanks (all

same size) then the individual means and
variances (time units) are additive;
(4)

Because of this property, we can join incoming

streams with recycle streams. This model is
therefore useful for treating recirculating
streams.

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One-shot tracer input
• If one-shot tracer input is introduced into N tanks
as in figure 4, then from eqn (3) and (4) we can
write; (5)

• Because of the independence of stages it is easy to

evaluate what happens to the C curve when tanks
are added or subtracted. This model becomes useful
in treating recycle flow and closed recirculation
systems. Let us briefly look at these applications.

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Figure 4: For any one-shot input eqn (4) relates input, output and number of tanks.

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Closed recirculation system
• If we introduce a  signal into an N stage system
as shown in Fig. 5, the recorder will measure tracer as it
flows by the first time, the second time, and so on. In
other words it measures tracer which has
passed through N tanks, 2N tanks, and so on. It
measures the superposition of all these signals.
• To obtain the output signal for these systems simply
sum up the contributions from the first, second, and
succeeding passes. If m is the number of passes we
shall have;

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• Figure 5 shows the resulting C curve
(6a)

(6b)

(6c)

• We have for the 5 tanks the following equations

(7).

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Figure 5: Tracer signal in a recalculating system.

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• Where the terms in brackets represent tracer
signal from the first, second and successive
passes. Recirculation systems can be
represented as well by the dispersion model.
(7a)

(7b)

(7c)

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Recirculating with through flow
• For relatively rapid recirculation compared to
through-flow, the system as a whole acts as one large
stirred tank hence, the observed tracer signal is
simply the superposition of the recirculation pattern
and the exponential decay of an ideal stirred tank.
• This is shown in Fig. 6 where C, is the concentration
of tracer if it is evenly distributed in the system.
• This form of curve is encountered in closed
recirculation systems in which tracer is broken down
and removed by a first-order process, or in systems
using radioactive tracers.
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Drug injection on living organisms give
this sort of superimposition because the
drug is constantly being eliminated by the
organism.

Figure 6: Recirculation with slow through-flow

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Step response experiment and the F curve

• The output F curve from a series of N ideal stirred

tanks is given in eqn (8) in its various forms.

(8)

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• In Graphical form;

Figure 7: F curves for the tank-in-series model.

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Chemical Conversion

• First Order Reaction

• First order reaction in one tank, the eqn. is;

• For N tanks in series;

(9)

• For small deviation from plug flow (large N)

comparison with plug flow gives;

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• These equations apply for both micro and macro
fluids.

• Second order reaction of micro-fluid

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• For a micro-fluid flowing thru N tanks in series
equation is;
(10)

• All other reaction kinetics of micro-fluids

• Either solve the mixed flow equation for tank
after tank
• Or use graphical procedure

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• Shown in figure 8

Figure 8: Graphical procedure of evaluating the performance of N tanks in

series for any kinetics

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Chemical Conversion of Micro-fluids

• It is rarely used for homogeneous system but

if you need it, mostly for G/L heterogeneous
systems

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Example 1: Modification to a winery
• A small diameter pipe 32 m long runs from the
fermentation room of a winery to the bottle filling
cellar. Sometimes red wine is pumped through the
pipe, sometimes white and whenever the switch is
made from one to the other, a small amount of
“house blend” rose is produced (8 bottles). Because
of some construction in the winery the pipeline
length will have to be increased to 50 m.
• For the same flow rate of wine, how many bottles of
rose may now be expected each time the flow is
switched?
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Solution

• Let the number of bottles (the spread) be related

to , so;
• For small deviations from plug flow;

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