Bahir Dar Faculty of

Institute Chemical and Food

of Technology Engineering

Introduction to Reaction
Engineering

2012E.C Nigus Gabbiye Habtu (PhD)

Objectives of the Course
 To give an enhanced understanding of the theory of
chemical reactors and enhanced skills in
formulation and analysis of reactor and kinetic

 To provide insight on nature and mechanism of

heterogeneous catalysts, in particular their
application in green chemistry and fine chemistry..

 To provide insight on current state of art of

separator reactors (Pressure and Temperature
swing reactors )

 To provide insight on the multi-phase flow and

Nonideal flow characteristics of chemical reactors

10/11/2019 Lecture on Reaction Engineering by Nigus Gabbiyev(PhD) 2

Over View on Chemical Process Plant

 Chemical reaction engineering is

at the heart of virtually every
chemical process.
Up Down
Stream Stream
Important Aspects of Reaction Engineering
What is involved in reactor design?

• Stoichiometry
• Rate Laws
• Mole Balance

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Introduction: Important Aspects
• Reactors are complex beasts of
• Temperature is not uniform and/or constant

• Multiple reactions almost always occur

• Flow patterns are complex

• Many reactors involve multiple phases

• Reaction mechanisms and reaction kinetics are never

perfectly known

• Feedstock quality and product specs often change

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Introduction: Important Aspects
• Reaction engineering involves design of
reactors and selection of operating conditions
using the best knowledge available
• To gain an insight into basic concepts
relevant to reactor design, we will first
consider simplified and/or ideal reactor
systems
• Isothermal operation of ideal reactors
• Single reaction, single phase

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Introduction- Chemical Identity
What is chemical reaction?
• A chemical species is said to have reacted when it has
lost its chemical identity.

• The identity of a chemical species is determined by the

kind, number, and configuration of that species’ atoms.

A species may lose its A species may lose A species may lose
identity through its identity through its identity through
different configurations Decomposition isomerization

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 Definition of reaction rate (rj )
– rj, is the rate of formation of species j per unit
volume. It is the number of moles of species j
generated per unit volume per unit time.
For solid catalytic reactions

‾ For a catalytic reaction we refer to –rA’ , which is the

rate of disappearance of species A on a per mass of
catalyst basis. (mol/gcat/s).
 The reaction rate is the rate at which a species looses
its chemical identity per unit volume
10/11/2019 Lecture on Reaction Engineering by Nigus Gabbiyev(PhD) 8
Introduction: Reaction Rate

 The rate of a reaction (mol/dm3/s) can be expressed

as either:
The rate of Disappearance of reactant: -rA or as
The rate of Formation (Generation) of product: rP

Consider the isomerization AB

 -rA = the rate of a disappearance of species A per unit volume
 rB = the rate of formation of species B per unit volume

10/11/2019 Lecture on Reaction Engineering by Nigus Gabbiyev(PhD) 9

Introduction: Reaction Rate

rA = k[T]f(CA.CB…..CN) K = reaction rate constant

CA.CB…..CN = concentrations

 The algebraic equation that relates the dis-apprance or

formation of a certain species with a species
concentration is called reaction kinetics or reaction rate
law.

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Introduction: Chemical Identity
Broadly reaction can be classified into
two base on the phase
Homogeneous Reaction: is one that involves only one phase. i.e the
products are in the same phase as the reactants

N2(g) + O2(g) 2NO(g) Gas phase reaction

HCl(aq) + NaOH(aq) NaCl(aq) + H2O (l) Liquid phase reaction

Heterogeneous Reaction: is one that involves more than one phase. i.e the catalyst
is in a different phase from the reactants and products. Normally, the catalyst is a
solid and reactants are fluids (liquids or gases).

Solid Catalyst
C6H6O(l) + O2(g) CO2(g) + H2O (l)

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General Mole Balances
System
Volume, V

Fj0 Gj Fj

 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
Fj 0  Fj  Gj 
dt
 mole   mole   mole   mole 
          
 time   time   time   time 

10/11/2019 Lecture on Reaction Engineering by Nigus Gabbiyev(PhD) 12

General Mole Balances
 If spatially uniform:
G j  r jV

V1
 If NOT spatially r j1
V2

uniform G j1  r j1V1
rj 2
G j 2  r j 2 V2


n n
G j   rji Vi rjiVi
Take limit
Gj     r dV
j
i 1 i1 lim V  0 n  

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General Mole Balances

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Batch Reactor - Mole Balances

Batch Reactor

dN A
FA0  FA   rA dV 
dt
No input and output FA0  FA  0

Well-Mixed  r dV  r V
A A

dNA
 rAV
dt
10/11/2019 Lecture on Reaction Engineering by Nigus Gabbiyev(PhD) 15
Batch Reactor - Mole Balances
dNA t  0 N A  N A0
Integrating dt  when
rAV t  t NA  NA

NA
dN A

Time necessary to reduce the
t number of moles of A from NA0
 rAV

N A0 to NA.

NA
dN A
NA t 
N A0
 rAV

t
10/11/2019 Lecture on Reaction Engineering by Nigus Gabbiyev(PhD) 16
Continuous Stirred Tank Reactor (CSTR)

CSTR -
Mole Balances

Material Balance → Input – Output + Generation = Accumulation

dNA
FA 0  FA   rA dV 
dt

dN A
Steady State 0
 dt

10/11/2019 Lecture on Reaction Engineering by Nigus Gabbiyev(PhD) 17

CSTR - Mole Balances

Well Mixed  r dV  r V
A A

FA 0  FA
FA0  FA  rAV  0 V
rA
CSTR volume necessary to reduce the molar flow
rate from FA0 to FA.



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Plug Flow Reactor - Mole Balances
V

FA FA


V V  V
 
Material Balance on Control Volume

 In  Out  Generation
at V   at V  V   in V 0
     
FA V  FA V  V  rA V 0

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Plug Flow Reactor - Mole Balances
Rearrange and take limit as ΔV0

FA V  V  FA V
lim  rA
V 0 V

dFA
 rA For variable volume reactor
dV

This is the volume necessary to reduce the entering molar

flow rate (mol/s) from FA0 to the exit molar flow rate of FA.


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Plug Flow Reactor - Mole Balances
PFR

dN A
FA0  FA   rA dV 
dt

FA0  FA   rAdV  0

Differientiate with respect to V

dFA
0  rA
dV
10/11/2019 Lecture on Reaction Engineering by Nigus Gabbiyev(PhD) 21
Plug Flow Reactor - Mole Balances
FA
dFA
The integral form is: V  
FA 0
rA

For constant volume reactor

This is the volume necessary to reduce the entering

molar flow rate (mol/s) from FA0 to the exit molar
flow rate of FA.

10/11/2019 Lecture on Reaction Engineering by Nigus Gabbiyev(PhD) 22

Packed Bed Reactor - Mole Balances
Packed Bed Reactor(PBR)

FA W   FA W  W   rA W 
dN A
dt

Steady State dN A
0
dt
FA W  W  FA W
lim  rA
W  0 W
10/11/2019 Lecture on Reaction Engineering by Nigus Gabbiyev(PhD) 23
Packed Bed Reactor - Mole Balances
Rearrange:
dFA
 rA
dW
The integral form to find the catalyst weight is:
FA
 dFA
W 
FA 0
rA

PBR catalyst weight necessary to reduce the

entering molar flow rate FA0 to molar flow rate FA.

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Reactor Mole Balances Summary
The General Mole Balance Equation (GMBE)
applied to the four major reactor types (and the
general reaction AB)

Reactor Differential Algebraic Integral

NA
NA
dN A
Batch dN A
 rAV t 
dt rV
N A0 A
t
FA 0  FA
CSTR V
rA
FA
FA
PFR dFA dFA
dV
 rA V F drA
 V
A0

PBR FA FA
dFA dFA
dW
 rA W  rA
 FA 0
W
25
CSTR – Example Problem

Given the following information, Find V

3
0  10 dm 3
min   0  10 dm
min
C A0
V ? C A  0.1C A0
FA0  0C A0
FA  C A

Liquid phase
  0
FA   0CA

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CSTR – Example Problem
(1) Mole Balance:
FA0  FA  0C A0   0C A  0 C A0  C A 
V  
 rA  rA  rA

(2) Rate Law: (3) Stoichiometry:

 rA  kCA CA 
FA

FA
 0
(4) Combine:
 0 CA 0  CA 
V
kCA

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CSTR – Example Problem

(5) Evaluate:
C A  0.1C A0
10dm3
C A0  0.1C A0  101  0.1
V  min  3

0.23 min 1 0.1C A0  0.230.1 dm

900
V  391 dm3
2.3

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Develop the Design Equations in terms of X
Define conversion, X
 Consider the generic reaction:
a AbB  c C  d D
 Chose limiting reactant A as basis of calculation:
b c d
A B  C  D
a a a

 The conversion XA is the number of moles of A that have

reacted per mole of A fed to the system:

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Develop the Design Equations in terms of X

Batch Reactors
 Moles A   Moles A  Moles A
remaining  initially   reacted 
     
NA  N A0  N A0 X
dN A  0  N A0 dX Differentiating with time

dN A dX General Mole Balance

  N A0  rAV 0 0
dt dt In – Out + Generation = Accumu
lation

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Develop the Design Equations in terms of X

dN A rAV t 0 X 0

dt N A0 t t X  X

Integrating Variable Separation ,

X
dX
t  N A0 
0
 rAV

The necessary t to achieve conversion X.

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Develop the Design Equations in terms of X
CSTR:-Continuous Stirred Tank Reactor
dN A
Steady State 0
dt
FA 0  FA
Well Mixed V 
rA


 r dV  r V
A A


 Moles A  Moles A   Moles A
leaving   entering  reacted 
     
FA  FA0  FA0 X

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Develop the Design Equations in terms of X
General Mole Balance 0

In – Out + Generation = Accumulation

FA0  FA   rAdV  0
FA 0  FA 0  FA 0 X 
V
rA
FA0 X
V
 rA
 volume necessary to achieve conversion X.
 CSTR

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Develop the Design Equations in terms of X

PFR:- Plug Flow Reactor

dFA FA  FA0  FA0 X
 rA
dV

Steady State dFA  0  FA0 X

V 0 X 0 dX  rA

V V X  X dV FA0

General Mole Balance

In – Out + Generation = Accumulation

10/11/2019 Lecture on Reaction Engineering by Nigus Gabbiyev(PhD) 34

Integrating,
X
FA0
V  dX
0
 rA

PFR volume necessary to achieve conversion X.

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Reactor Mole Balances Summary
In terms of conversion, X
Reactor Differential Algebraic Integral
X
X
dX
Batch N A0
dX
 r AV t  N A0 
dt 0
 rAV
t
FA 0 X
CSTR V
rA
X
X
dX V 
FA0 dX
PFR FA 0  rA
dV  0
 rA
V
X
X
dX FA0 dX
PBR
 FA 0   rA W 
dW 0
 rA
W
10/11/2019 Lecture on Reaction Engineering by Nigus Gabbiyev(PhD) 36
 Reactor Sizing
Levenspiel Plots
 Given –rA as a function of
conversion, -rA= f(X), one can
size any type of reactor. We
FA 0
do this by constructing a
rA
Levenspiel plot. Here we plot
either (FA0/-rA) or (1/-rA) as a
function of X. For (FA0/-rA) vs. X
X, the volume of a CSTR and
the volume of a PFR can be FA0
represented as the shaded   g(X )
areas in the Levenspiel Plots  rA
shown as:

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Reactor Sizing
CSTR PFR

FA 0
 rA

X1

Shaded Area = Volume of CSTR

 FA0 
V    X 1
  rA  X1

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Reactor Sizing: Reactors in Series
Given: rA as a function of conversion, one can also design
any sequence of reactors in series by defining X:

total moles of A reacted up to point i

Xi 
moles of A fed to first reactor

Only valid if there are no side streams.

Molar Flow rate of species A at point i:

FAi  FA0  FA0 X i

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Reactor Sizing: Reactors in Series
Reactors configuration in Series

CSTR PFR

CSTR

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Reactor Sizing: Reactors in Series
Reactor 1 (CSTR-1): From Material Balance
FA1  FA0  FA0 X 1
FA0  FA1 FA0  FA0  FA0 X 1  FA0 X 1
V1   
 rA1  rA1  rA1

FA 0 V1
 rA

X1 X

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Reactor Sizing: Reactors in Series
Reactor 2: PFR: From Material Balance

X2
FA0 V2
V2  
FA 0
dX
 rA  rA
X1

X1 X2
X

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Reactor Sizing: Reactors in Series
Reactor 1 (CSTR-2): From Material Balance
FA 2  FA3  rA3V3  0
FA0  FA0 X 2   FA0  FA0 X 3   rA3V3  0

FA 0 X 3  X 2 
V3
FA 0
V3   rA
rA 3

X1 X X2 X3

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Reactor Sizing: Reactors in Series

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