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CSTR 40 L
CSTR 40 L
This experiment was conducted to determine the relationship of the temperature of the
reactor with the conversion and also determining the activation energy of the reaction by reacting
Sodium Hydroxide, NaOH with Ethyl Acetate inside a jacketed 40 L Continuous Stirred Tank
Reactor (Model BP 143). We varied the temperature at three different temperatures, which were
at 40, 50 and 60 degree C. We kept the flow rate of both reactants at 0.2 L/min. The results show
that the relationship between the temperature with the conversion is the higher temperature the
higher the percentage of conversion. The value of activation energy obtained was 541.956 J.
Introduction
A reactor is common need in any industry as the function of a reactor is specified space
that is designated for chemical reactions to occur. A reactor is rated based on their high product
output, efficient, and also economical. In addition to that, in designing a reactor for a specific
process, the knowledge of the type of chemicals used in the feed stream and also the chemicals
that are produced at the product stream is crucial. This can have a significant effect on its
production, efficiency and also its feasibility. The widely used reactor in the chemical
engineering industry is the Continuous Stirred Tank Reactor (CSTR).
In the CSTR, the feed stream is stirred continuously as the reactants are being fed
constantly into the reactor. The CSTR has a low driving force which made it possible for a better
control of exothermic and endothermic reactions. If a higher conversion of product is required,
then more CSTR is used and they are aligned in series. The continuous stirred tank reactor
(model BP 143) unit is suitable for student experiments on continuous chemical reactions. The
unit consists of jacketed reaction fitted in the agitator and condenser. The unit comes complete
with vessels for raw materials and product, feed pumps, and thermostat.
Theory
The rate of reaction basically represents the amount of time taken in for a reaction to
occur. An example for the previous statement is oxidation, a reaction that could take days or
even years to complete whilst combustion is a reaction that occur almost instantaneously.
A + bB pP + qQ (eq 1.1)
The letters a,b,p and q represents the stoichiometric coefficients while the capital letters
A and B represents the reactants and P and Q are products. According to IUPAC's Gold
Book definition the reaction rate r for a chemical reaction occurring in a closed system under
constant-volume conditions, without a build-up of reaction intermediates, is defined as:
Mass is a conservative entity, hence given a control volume V the sum of mass flows entering
the system will be equal to the sum exiting minus (plus) the consumed (generated) or
accumulated fractions.
Assumptions
V = (FAoX) / -rA
Residence Time
The reactors residence time is defined as the reactor volume divided by the total feed flow rates.
Residence time, = 0
In terms of concentration;
CAo CA
=
A
CA = Concentration of A at final
Conversion
As species A has become the basis of calculation, the progress of the reaction can be quantified
by observing how many moles of products are formed for every mole of A consumed. This
parameter is called Conversion. In short, conversion is number of moles of A that has reacted
divided by Number of moles of A originally exists at the beginning of the experiment. As such :
Effects of Temperature.
When conducting this experiment, we vary the temperature of the reactor as we want to
see what would happen if we had done so. In theory as the temperature increase, the conversion
would increase as we kept the runtime of the reactor as a constant. The conversion increases
because when the reactor has a high temperature the heat energy would transfer to the particles
with less energy. When the particles have achieved the amount of energy needed and collide with
other particles with the right orientation would result in a reaction. With the added heat energy
would speed this process. This energy that is needed to be overcome is called activation energy.
This can be seen from the figure above.
Objectives
3. To determine the effect of temperature difference of the reactor onto the conversion.
2. 50 mL burette
3. 200 mL beaker
4. Conical flask
5. Solution :
IV- Phenolphthalein
Procedure
ii- The NaOH solution was carefully poured into vessel B1 and Et (Ac) solution was
poured into vessel B2.
iii- The charge port caps for both vessels were closed.
6. The overflow tube was adjusted to give a working volume of 10L in the reactor R1.
1. The cooling water valve V13 was kept open to allow the cooling water to continue
flowing.
2. Pumps P1 and pumps P2 were switched off. Stirrer M1 was switched off.
3. The thermostat T1 was switched off. The liquid in the reaction vessel R1 was let to cool
down to room temperature.
5. Valves V2, V3, V7, and V8 were closed. Valves V4, V9 and V12 were opened to drain
any liquid from the unit.
2. The conductivity and NaoH concentration for each valu were determined by mixing the
following solution into 100 mL of deionised water.
3. A 50 mL sample was obtained from the experiment and immediate the sample was added
to the HCl in the flask to quench the saponification reaction.
5. The mixture was titrated with NaOH solution from the burette until the mixture was
neutralized. The amount of NaOH titrated was recorded.
Effect of Temperature on the reaction in the CSTR.
Reactor volume = 40 L
conductivity
9
8
Conduvtivity (mS/cm)
7
6
5
4 conductivity
3 Linear (conductivity)
2 y = -0.0764x + 7.3046
1 R = 0.9789
0
-1 0 20 40 60 80 100 120
Conversion (%)
Graph 1: Conductivity versus conversion
94.5
94
93.5 Conversion
93
92.5
92
91.5
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
Reactor temperature, T
ln k vs 1/T
6
5 y = -65.186x + 5.2032
4
ln k
3
ln k
2 Linear (ln k)
0
0 0.005 0.01 0.015 0.02 0.025 0.03
1/T
This experiment was conducted to determine the effect of temperature on the conversion.
To minimize any deviation of the results, the flow rate of feed entering the reactor was set at a
constant rate of 0.2 L/min for both reactants. Then the experiment was run at three different
temperatures starting at 40, 50 and 60 degree C. With the results that had been obtained three
graphs were plotted.
From the graph of conductivity vs conversion shows that as the conversion increases the
conductivity decreases steadily. This is may be due to the products of the reaction increases in
the reactor decreases the capability of the solution to flow electricity. Another reason is that as
the reaction precedes the concentration of NaOH decreases, this is because the presence of
NaOH helps with the electrical flow.
The next graph is the graph of conversion vs temperature should show the conversion of
the reactant steadily increases, but on the other hand, at section of 40 to 50 degree C shows a
drop in the conversion from 94 to 92 %. This could be a result of contaminants during the
sampling or titration process where the sample was exposed towards the environment. Another
possibility is that the conical flask was not cleaned properly that the contaminant had reacted
with the NaOH that gave a drop in the result. This was not seen from the conversion at 50 to 60
degree C and from 60 to 70 degree C.
The last graph depicts the result ln K vs 1/T in order to determine the activation energy
based on Arrheniuss Law. The Slope that was from the graph is -65.186 and the y-intercept is at
5.2032. As it was expressed from the theory that the slope can be used to obtain activation
energy and the value is 541.956 J.
Conclusion
We can conclude that as the temperature is increased it would increase the conversion. In
addition to that, with the higher temperature will also give a higher rate of reaction as this was
explained in theory where with the higher temperature means that even more energy to be
absorbed by the lesser energized particles which in the end increases the collision in the right
orientation of the particles. This is also supported by the graph that was obtained from results.
This experiment also shows that the K constant is dependent on the temperature. This is because
it can be satisfied by the Arrheniuss Law. From this law we can also determine the activation
energy based on the graph that had been obtained and also by doing a simple calculation, even
so, we used the graph to obtain the activation energy.
Recommendation
1. Make sure reactor does not have any leaks and valve closed and opened as needed,
controlled the valve carefully and slowly when adjusting the flow rate to obtain 0.10
L/min. It is to make sure flow rate will stabilize and the experiment will run smoothly.
2. Repeat titrations two or three times because a lot of error comes from titration or use
another method other than titration.
3. It is better to prepare the Hydrochloric acid first, so that when the sample is collected, it
can be quickly quenched. This will avoid further reaction of the sample after it is
collected.
Reference
1. Mohd. Danish, Al Mesfer, Rashid M. M., 2015, Effect of Operating Conditions on CSTR
performance : an Experimental Study, Department of Chemical Engineering, College of
Engineering, King Khalid University, Vol. 5, Issue 2.
2. Abdala, A., 2010, Elements of Chemical Reaction Engineering, The Petroleum Institute,
Abu Dhabi.