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Fluid-Fluid Reactors-Design
• Reaction kinetics enable us to determine
FLUID-FLUID the rate of a reaction
REACTIONS: DESIGN • After determining the rate of reaction, we
must then design a reactor for the reaction
• First we must choose the right kind of
contactor and then find the size of the
contactor
• Two major kinds of contactors
– Towers
– Tanks
NAA©2015

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Fluid-Fluid Reactors-Design Fluid-Fluid Reactors-Design

Towers:
Tanks:

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Factors to Consider in Selecting a Contactor Factors to Consider in Selecting a Contactor

1. Contacting pattern: 1. Contacting pattern:
• Towers approximate plug G/plug L.
• Bubble tanks approximate plug G/mixed L.
• Agitated tanks approximate mixed G/mixed
L.
• Towers have the largest mass transfer
driving force and in this respect have an
advantage over tanks
• Agitated tanks have the smallest driving
force.

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Factors to Consider in Selecting a Contactor
2. Mass transfer coefficient (gas and liquid
film)
• For liquid droplets in gas kg is high, kl is low
• For gas bubbles rising in liquid kg is low, kl is
high
3. Flow rates
• Packed beds work best with relative flow
rates of about Fl/Fv ≈ 10 at 1 bar.
• Other contactors are more flexible in that
they work well in a wider range of Fl/Fv
values
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Factors to Consider in Selecting a Contactor
4. Location of controlling resistance
• If the resistance is in the gas and/or liquid films
you want a large interfacial area "a," thus most
agitated contactors and most columns are
desirable
– If the L film dominates, stay away from spray contactors
– If the G film dominates stay away from bubble contactors
• If the resistance is in the main body of the
Liquid you want large fl = Vl/Vr :
– Stay away from towers
– Use tank contactors
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Factors to Consider in Selecting a Contactor
5. Solubility
• For very soluble gases, those with a small
value of Henry's law constant H (e.g. NH3
gas film controls:
– Use spray towers and avoid bubble contactors
• For gases of low solubility in the liquid, thus high
H value (e.g O2, N2) liquid film controls
– avoid spray towers
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Factors to Consider in Selecting a Contactor
6. Reaction lowers the resistance of the
liquid film
• For absorption of highly soluble gases,
chemical reaction is not helpful
• For absorption of slightly soluble gases,
chemical reaction is helpful and does speed
up the rate
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Factors to Consider in Selecting a Contactor Factors to Consider in Selecting a Contactor

Nomenclature:

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Fluid-Fluid Reactors-Design
• With this nomenclature, we have the following
relationships among the various concentration
measures
Straight Mass Transfer
• We will develop equations for absorption alone of A by
liquid
• This will be extended to reacting systems

• The performance equations which are written in

terms of Fg and Fl are useful when the flowing
streams have inert carrier material
• The equation written in terms of Fg’ and Fl’ are
useful when the flowing streams only contain
reactive materials and no inerts

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Straight Mass Transfer Straight Mass Transfer

Plug Flow G/Plug Flow L-Countercurrent Flow in a Tower Plug Flow G/Plug Flow L-Countercurrent Flow in a Tower
• To develop the performance equation, we combine the • Integrating for the whole tower gives:
rate equation with the material balance
• Thus for steady-state countercurrent operations we have
for a differential element of volume

(A lost by gas) = (A lost by liquid) = (rA''' )dVr

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Straight Mass Transfer Straight Mass Transfer

Plug Flow G/Plug Flow L-Countercurrent Flow in a Tower Plug Flow G/Plug Flow L-Countercurrent Flow in a Tower
The design procedure is summarized as follows: For any two points in the absorber:
• For dilute systems • The rate expression reduces to:
CA << CT and pA <<π
so Fg‘= Fg and Fl‘= Fl
• In this situation the differential material balance becomes

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Straight Mass Transfer Mass Transfer Plus Not Very Slow Reaction
Plug Flow G/Plug Flow L-Countercurrent Flow in a Tower Plug Flow G/Plug Flow L-Mass Transfer + Reaction in a
The general integrated rate expression becomes Countercurrent Tower
Here we consider the system:

• We assume that the rate is fast enough so that no

unreacted A enters the main body of the liquid
• Where: • This assumes that the Hatta modulus is not very much
smaller than unity

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Mass Transfer Plus Not Very Slow Reaction
Plug Flow G/Plug Flow L-Mass Transfer + Reaction in a
Countercurrent Tower
For a differential slice of the absorber-reactor, we
write:
Mass Transfer Plus Not Very Slow Reaction
Plug Flow G/Plug Flow L-Mass Transfer + Reaction in a
Countercurrent Tower
• For dilute systems
PU ≈ π and CU ≈ CT
• The previous expression simplify to:

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Mass Transfer Plus Not Very Slow Reaction Mass Transfer Plus Not Very Slow Reaction
Plug Flow G/Plug Flow L-Mass Transfer + Reaction in a Plug Flow G/Plug Flow L-Mass Transfer + Reaction in a
Countercurrent Tower Countercurrent Tower
• To solve for Vr
• Rearranging and integrating I and 11, I1 and 111, I and I11
• pick a few pA, values, usually pA 1, pA2 and one intermediate
gives the following: value are enough
In general: For dilute systems: • for each pA , find the corresponding CB
• evaluate the rate for each point from

• integrate the performance

equation graphically

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Mass Transfer Plus Not Very Slow Reaction
Plug Flow G/Plug Flow L-Mass Transfer + Reaction in a
Cocurrent Tower
• Here simply change Fl to -Fl (for upflow of both streams) or
Fg to -Fg (for downflow of both streams) in the equations
for countercurrent flow
• Be sure to find the proper CB, value for each pA
• The rest of the procedure remains the same
Mass Transfer Plus Not Very Slow Reaction
Mixed Flow G/Mixed Flow L-Mass Transfer + Reaction in an
Agitated Tank Contactor
• The whole vessel is well mixed and at the exit conditions
• Composition is the same everywhere in the reactor; thus

For dilute systems

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Mass Transfer Plus Not Very Slow Reaction
Plug Flow G/Mixed Flow L-Mass Transfer + Reaction in
Bubble Tank Contactors
• We must make two accountings: a differential balance for
the loss of A from the gas because G is in plug flow, and an
overall balance for B because L is in mixed flow.
• Focusing on a bit of rising gas, we have
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Mass Transfer Plus Not Very Slow Reaction
Plug Flow G/Mixed Flow L-Mass Transfer + Reaction in
Bubble Tank Contactors
• For the liquid as a whole and for the gas as a whole, a
balance about the whole reactor gives
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Mass Transfer Plus Not Very Slow Reaction
Plug Flow G/Mixed Flow L-Mass Transfer + Reaction in
Bubble Tank Contactors
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Mass Transfer Plus Not Very Slow Reaction
Mixed Flow G/Batch Uniform L-Absorption + Reaction in a
Batch Agitated Tank Contactor
• Since this is not a steady-state operation, composition and rates all
change with time
• The material balance equates the three quantities shown below and
thus in general
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Mass Transfer Plus Not Very Slow Reaction Mass Transfer Plus Not Very Slow Reaction
Mixed Flow G/Batch Uniform L-Absorption + Reaction in a Mixed Flow G/Batch Uniform L-Absorption + Reaction in a
Batch Agitated Tank Contactor Batch Agitated Tank Contactor
To Find the Time Needed for a Given Operation To Find the Time Needed for a Given Operation

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Mass Transfer Plus Not Very Slow Reaction
Mixed Flow G/Batch Uniform L-Absorption + Reaction in a
Batch Agitated Tank Contactor
To Find the Time Needed for a Given Operation
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Mass Transfer Plus Not Very Slow Reaction
Example:
The concentration of undesirable impurity in air (at 1 bar =
105 Pa) is to be reduced from 0.1% (or 100 Pa) to 0.02% (or 20
Pa) by absorption in pure water. Find the height of tower
required for countercurrent operations
Data:
The flow rates per meter squared cross section of tower are
The molar density of liquid under all conditions is
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Mass Transfer Plus Not Very Slow Reaction Mass Transfer Plus Not Very Slow Reaction
Solution: Solution:
The known quantities are as shown: This is given as:

•This can be used to determine the concentration of A

leaving the absorber as:
•First find the relationship between the concentrations in the •The expression for the height of the tower is given as:
gas and liquid phases
•Take a material balance about the absorber between points
1 and 3

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Mass Transfer Plus Not Very Slow Reaction
Solution:
Next evaluate the mass transfer coefficients:
This result shows that:
Next evaluate the mass transfer driving force
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Mass Transfer Plus Not Very Slow Reaction
Solution:
Make the necessary substitutions in the expression for the
height of the tower
Observations:
• The tower is very high, unacceptably high
• Also note that most of the resistance (over 97%) lies in
the liquid film, making this a liquid-film controlling
process
• If we were to add component B to the liquid which reacts
with A, we should be able to speed things-up
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Mass Transfer Plus Not Very Slow Reaction Mass Transfer Plus Not Very Slow Reaction
Example 2: Solution:
To the water of Example 1 add a high concentration of
reactant B, CB1=800 mol/m3. Material B reacts with A
extremely rapidly
Assume that the diffusivities of A and B in water are the Step 1:
same, thus:
Take a material balance about the absorber between points 1
and 3

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Mass Transfer Plus Not Very Slow Reaction Mass Transfer Plus Not Very Slow Reaction
Solution: Solution:
At both ends of the tower, therefore, gas-phase
At the bottom of the tower, resistance controls and we have:
Step : Determine the height of the tower

Step 2:
Observations
Determine the form of rate equation to use. The rate
• Even though the liquid phase controls in physical absorption, it
equation must be valid for both ends of the tower does not necessarily follow that it should still control when
reaction occurs
• We see here that it is the gas phase alone which influences the rate
of the overall process
• Reaction serves merely to eliminate the resistance of the liquid film
• Also note the remarkable improvement in performance; 5 versus
500 m.

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