Propylene, also called propene, is considered one of the most important monomer is the industry

since it is used to produce derivatives such as polypropylene, acrylonitrile, acrylic acid, propylene
oxide, acetone etc. It is conventionally recovered as by-products of petroleum and petrochemical
operations, but due to increasing demand, catalytic processes has been developed to convert low
value hydrocarbon such as cyclopropane to propylene.
The isomerization reaction of cyclopropane to propylene is carried out in a plug flow reactor, with
the first order reaction rate constant given as k=7.4056 x1011e-98765/T, T is in Kelvin.
In this problem, we aim to estimate the length of the reactor required for 95% conversion of
cyclopropane, given the following design basis.
The feed cyclopropane enters the reactor at a temperature of 560 ⁰C and a rate of 5.0 kg/s, and
since the reaction is exothermic, cooling water is continuously supplied to the reactor at 20 ⁰C.
Internal diameter of the reactor tubes is taken as 3.81 cm.
R= 8.314J/mol-K
ρ = 1.88 kg/m3
MW= 42.08 g/mole
Cp = 98.38 J/mol-K
U= 1100 W/m2-K (heat transfer coefficient based on the inside area of reactor tube)
ΔHrxn=115.48 KJ/mol (heat of reaction, assumed to be independent of temperature)

Method of calculation:
Material and energy balance around the reactor will yield to two ordinary differential equations:
𝑑𝑋
= 𝑓(𝑧, 𝑋, 𝑇)
𝑑𝑧
𝑑𝑇
= 𝑓(𝑧, 𝑋, 𝑇)
𝑑𝑧
Where: X = conversion of cyclopropane to propylene
T = reactor temperature
z = reactor tube length
Runge-Kutta fourth order method will be used to simultaneously solve the ODEs at h = 0.001 m.
Initial conditions: X0 = 0, T0 = 560 + 273.15 K, z0 = 0