CHL 723 Chemical Reaction and Reactor Engineering

Minor 1: September 1, 2011

15 marks Open Book / Open Notes 1 hour

There are 2 questions in this test, printed on both sides of paper. Make assumptions as
needed and state them clearly.

1. Consider a plug flow reactor (details below) in which all flowing fluids are
incompressible, and a first order reaction occurs such that reactant A decomposes to
products ( A Æ products). The rate constant is k.

For fun, let the PFR be shaped like a frustrum of a cone, as shown in the figure. The
area of this cone shaped PFR increases linearly from Ai to Af over a reactor length of
L.

Area, Af
Area, Ai

Inlet velocity,
ui Outlet
velocity, uf
Inlet Outlet
concentration, concentration,
CA0 Length, L CA

Assume that flow is steady and fully developed at all locations.

Formulate the problem to obtain the exit concentration CA in terms of CA0 and other
given system parameters. Is this an ideal plug flow reactor?
6 marks

2. A recent report of the Reserve Bank of India states that.. “…it costs Rs. 15 to print a
Rs. 100 note, and that approximately 2 billion of them are currently in circulation, of
which 1 billion need to be replaced annually.”

Assume that the Rs. 100 notes are put in circulation at a constant rate and
continuously, and that they are withdrawn from circulation at the same constant rate
without regard to their age and condition, in a random manner. The whole exercise is
 designed by Reserve Bank so that a constant number of bills (2 billion) are in
circulation at any time.

Suppose a new series of Rs. 100 notes are put in circulation today onwards replacing
the older bills that have been in circulation.

(a) How many new Rs. 100 notes will be in circulation at any time in the future?
(b) After 15 years, how many old Rs. 100 notes are still expected to be in circulation?

State all assumptions clearly as you arrive at your answer.

4 marks

3. Consider the following flow system consisting of two ideal CSTRs of volumes V1
and V2 respectively. The entire flow rate Q goes through the first CSTR, and then a
fraction (1-α) bypasses while a fraction α goes through the second CSTR.

CSTR (1-α) Q
(volume = V1) Q
Q

CSTR
αQ (volume = V2)
Note correction:

(a) Find the composite RTD of the system.  

(b) When the flow rate split is such that , show that the composite RTD
reduces to that of a single CSTR. What is the mean residence time of this
effective CSTR?
(c) Clearly the above is a network and not a single CSTR. How do you rationalize the
result obtained in (b)?
5 marks