DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING, IIT DELHI

REACTOR SIZING AND SELECTION PROBLEMS

ASSIGNMENT-4

Q1: You have two reactors available, a CSTR (100 L) and a PFR (150 L), to carry out a liquid reaction. To
achieve the highest conversion possible, you decide to put both reactors in series. The reactors are to operate at
the same constant temperature, and the rate law at that temperature is known:

-rA (M/s) = 2.0 CA1.7 , with CA in M.

You need to process 25 L/s of feed, and CA,0 = 0.10 M.

a. What is the optimal order in which to place the two reactors? Justify your answer (one sentence
should suffice).

b. Estimate the % conversion you will achieve with this configuration.

Q2: Consider the following liquid reaction:

A ==> R, rR = 0.5 CA [mol/(L-min.)]

Unfortunately, an undesired side reaction also occurs:

A ==> S, rS = CA2 [mol/(L-min.)]

You are asked to design a flow reactor to process a feed containing 2 mol/L A and no R or S.

a. Which reactor type (CSTR or PFR) should you choose? State the reasoning behind your selection.

b. For the reactor type (chosen in part a), calculate the space time τ required to produce 1.50mol/L of R.

Q3: Consider the liquid reactions in series:

k1 k2
A ==> R ==> S

(both reactions are elementary).

Your goal is to maximize production of R from a feed containing 1 mol/L A (and no R or S), but you
don't know the rate constants. You decide to do a quick and dirty batch experiment. When some of the
feed stock is incubated at the process temperature for 1 minute and then analyzed, it is found that 0.7
mol/L R and 0.1 mol/L S are present.

a. Calculate k1 and k2.

 b. For a flow rate of 100 L/min., design a reactor to maximize the production of R; state whether you
would choose a CSTR or PFR and specify the reactor volume (If you couldn't do part a, show how you
would obtain the volume given k1 and k2).

Q4: Consider a first-order liquid reaction with A as the reactant, and rate constant

k (s-1) = (1.0x103)exp[-4000/T(K)].

The properties of the feed are:

CA,0 = 0.1 M, T0 = 325 K.

Based on a calorimetry experiment, the adiabatic temperature rise is 150 K.

Determine which reactor type, CSTR or PFR (both well-insulated), will achieve 80% conversion more
efficiently, i.e. with the smaller value of τ.

Q5: Consider a fluidized bed reactor used to make a valuable product R from a less expensive reactant A.

The feed contains 1.0 M A and no R, and the contents of the reactor are well mixed. The catalyst
processes A ==> R with the following kinetics:

-rA = k CA; k = 10 L/kg-cat/s,

and it is deactivated with first order, independent kinetics (kd = 0.1 s-1). The catalyst is recovered from
the exit stream and recycled, and a fraction φ of the recycle stream is discarded and replaced with fresh
catalyst.

Your goal is to assess the profitability of the process and design it accordingly. The relevant prices are:

Product price (pR): $2/mole

Cost of the feed (pfeed): $1/L

Cost of fresh catalyst (pcat): $0.50/kg

Other costs can be neglected or considered constant for a given reactor size.

Constraints:

The required purity of your product is such that the conversion of A must be at least 95%.

The maximum concentration of catalyst in the reactor (W/V) is 1.0 kg/L. Any denser, and you will not
be able to fluidize the suspension.

a. Derive an expression for the rate of profit per unit reactor volume, p/V, in terms of φ, W/V, XA, and
the space time τ.

b. Design the reactor setup to maximize p/V; specify τ, φ, W/V, and XA.
c. A sales rep for the catalyst manufacturer informs you that they have developed a new and improved
catalyst with double the density of active sites (k = 20 L/kg-cat/s). The only catch is that it is four times
the price ($2/kg). Do you make the switch?

d. In this model, the rate of profit increases in proportion to the reactor volume if the intensive variables
specified in part b are held constant. It follows that you would want to make your reactor as large as
possible to increase profits. Discuss the possible disadvantages or constraints you might encounter with
the process as it becomes increasingly large, and suggest how the profit model could be improved to
reflect those constraints.

(Ref books: Reaction Engineering books by Octave Levenspiel, Scott Fogler; Reaction Kinetics book
by J.M. Smith; Plant design and Economics by Peters and Timmerhaus).