CHL 723 Chemical Reaction and Reactor Engineering

Minor 2: October 7, 2011

14 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. We have a ten-stirred tank system (20 liters each) that is contaminated so we need to
flush it with fresh water (1 liter/min of total flow). How long must we flush with fresh
water so that the concentration is 0.1% of its present value:

(a) if each tank is independent and fed equally from the total supply of fresh water of
1 liter/min, and each tank indepdently discharges its own waste?
(b) if the tanks are connected in series, the first tank is fed with all the fresh water,
and only the last tank discharges waste?
(c) In which case is the required time more, and why (physically)?
7 marks

Given, for the tanks in series model:

2. A pulse of radioactive tracer was injected into the catalyst inlet (to flow with the
catalyst to “mimic” the “catalyst phase”) at the bottom of a fluidized bed reactor. The
radioactivity level was then measured at the exit of the reactor. The data is recorded
below.
Time (min) Counts/min × 10-3
0 0
0.5 5
1.0 22
1.5 27
2.0 26
2.5 22
3.0 19
3.5 15
4.0 10
4.5 7
5.0 4
5.5 3
6.0 3
6.5 1
7.0 0

Assume that the radioactive tracer has a long half-life and there is no significant
decay during the span of the experiment.

(a) Calculate the Et values from the above data and hence calculate the mean, second
moment, variance, and dimensionless variance from the above data.
(b) The article also indicated that the catalyst flow rate was 0.0428 kg/s (reliable) and
the estimated holdup was 8.35 kg (not very reliable). Calculate the discrepancy
(based on the calculation based on solids inventory) in mean residence times from
the RTD experiment and that from this information.
(c) Assuming that the RTD experiment is more reliable, fit the axial dispersion model
to this data and also the tanks-in-series model. What are the model parameters?
(d) In your opinion, which of the models in part (c) would actually more applicable to
given system. Why?

7 marks