Tutorial 1 with solution

Course Name: Chemical Reaction Engineering II

Course code: CL-302
Instructor: Prof. Bishnupada Mandal
1. Which of the following is not a characteristic of catalyst:
(a) It participates in the reaction.
(b) It speeds up the reaction rate
(c) It does not affect the equilibrium
(d) It initializes the reaction.
Answer: (a)

2. Which of the following will decrease the rate of reaction?

(a) Catalytic poison
(b) Positive catalyst
(c) Negative catalyst
(d) Catalytic promoters
Answer: (c)

3. Which of the following is used as a catalyst for the following reaction?

N2 + 3H2 ⟶ 2NH3
(a) Zinc
(b) Chlorine
(c) Platinum
(d) Water
Answer: (c)

4. Which of the following isotherm cannot be used to explain chemisorption phenomena?

(a) Langmuir isotherm
(b) Eley-rideal isotherm
(c) Langmuir-hinshelwood isotherm
(d) Freundlich isotherm
Answer: (d)

5. One parameter used to quantify the activity of a catalyst is:

(a) Damkohler number
(b) Turnover frequency
(c) Dispersion
(d) Effectiveness factor
Answer: (b)
6. The rate of heterogeneous catalytic reaction A( g ) + B(g) → C(g) is given by
k K A PA PB
- rA = CT Where KA and KC are the adsorption equilibrium constants; PA and PB
1 + K A PA + KC PC
are the concentrations of A and B in gaseous phase; k is the surface reaction rate constant and CT
is the total concentration of sites. The rate controlling step for this reaction is:
(a) Adsorption of A
(b) Surface reaction between adsorbed A and adsorbed B
(c) Surface reaction between adsorbed A and B in gas phase
(d) Surface reaction between A in gas phase and adsorbed B
Answer: (c)

7. A reaction A + 3B → C + D was studied using a commercial 0.7 wt% Ru on catalyst. The

catalyst dispersion percentage of atoms exposed, determined from chemisorption of reactant B,
which was found to be 53%. At a pressure of 988 kPa and a temperature of 475K, a turnover
frequency of 0.065 s-1 was reported for product C. The rate of formation of product C in (mol/s.gm
of catalyst) is__________×10-6. (Report upto two decimal place)
Answer: 2.0 − 2.5
Solution:
−rA' −rB' rC' rD'
= = =
1 3 1 1
 1  % Ru
−rA' = N C D  
 MWRU  100
0.065  0.53  6.023  1023  0.007
−rA' =
6.023  1023  101.1
−rA' = 2.38  10−6 mol / s.gm of catalyst

8. A proposed mechanism for the water-gas shift reaction on ferrochrome catalyst at high
temperature is
𝐻2 𝑂 + 𝑆 ⇌ 𝐻2 𝑂 − 𝑆 𝑟1 = 𝑘1 [ 𝐻2 𝑂] 𝜃 − 1𝐻2 𝑂−𝑆 𝑆
𝐻2 𝑂 − 𝑆 ⇌ 𝐻𝑂 − 𝑆 − 𝐻 𝑟2 = 𝑘2 𝜃𝐻2 𝑂−𝑆 − 𝑘−2 𝜃𝐻𝑂−𝑆−𝐻
𝐻𝑂 − 𝑆 − 𝐻 ⇌ 𝑂 − 𝑆 − 𝐻2 𝑟3 = 𝑘3 𝜃𝐻𝑂−𝑆−𝐻 − 𝑘−3 [𝐻2 ]𝜃𝑂−𝑆
𝐶𝑂 + 𝑂 − 𝑆 ⇌ 𝑂𝐶𝑂 − 𝑆 𝑟4 = 𝑘4 [ 𝐶𝑂] 𝜃 − 4𝑂𝐶𝑂−𝑆 𝑂 −𝑆
𝑂𝐶𝑂 − 𝑆 ⇌ 𝐶𝑂2 + 𝑆 𝑟5 = 𝑘5 𝜃𝑂𝐶𝑂−𝑆 − 𝑘−5 [𝐶𝑂2 ]𝜃𝑆

Where S is a surface site and H 2 O − S , HO− S− H,O− S and OCO− S are surface bound species.
[ H 2 O],[H2 ],[CO] and [CO2 ] Indicates concentration of the respective species.
The correct expression for rate of overall reaction H 2 O + CO → CO2 + H 2 in terms of the gas
phase concentrations, assuming that step 3 is rate limiting step will be_________?
 k1 k−2 k3 [ H 2 O] k k k [CO2 ][ H 2 ]
− −3 −4 −5
k−1 k−2 k4 k5 [CO]
(a) r =
1 + 1 1 + 2  [ H O] + k−5 1 + k−4  [CO ]
k k
k−1  k−2  2 k5  k4 [CO]  2

k1 k−2 k3 [CO2 ] k k k [CO][ H 2 ]

− −3 −4 −5
k−1 k−2 k4 k5 [CO]
(b) r =
1 + 1 1 + 2  [ H O] + k−5 1 + k−4  [CO ]
k k
k−1  k−2  2 k5  k4 [CO]  2

k1 k−2 k3 [ H 2 O] k k k [H O][CO2 ]
− −3 −4 −5 2
k−1 k−2 k4 k5 [CO]
(c) r =
1 + 1 1 + 2  [ H O] + k−5 1 + k−4  [CO ]
k k
k−1  k−2  2 k5  k4 [CO]  2

k1 k−2 k3 [ H 2 O] k k k [CO2 ][ H 2 ]
− −3 −4 −5
k−1 k−2 k4 k5 [CO]
(d) r =
1 + 1 1 + 2  [CO ] + k−5 1 + k−4  [H O]
k k
k−1  k−2  2 k5  k4 [CO]  2
Answer: (a)
Explanation: