Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering

Course Title :Reactor Design

Course Number :CHME 411
Credit Hours :3 Credit Hours (2 Hrs. Lecture and 2 Hr. Tutorial)
Instructor :Dr. Mohamed Humaid Mohamed Hassan Al Marzouqi
Text Book :“Elements of Chemical Reaction Engineering”, 4th Edition, H. Scott
Fogler, Prentice Hall International Inc., 2006.
Introduction

Topics
•Kinetics
•Contacting Patterns
•Performance Equations
Introduction

Three important parameters need to be known for

understanding the design of reactors or what reactors are
able to do:

1) Kinetics: How fast things happen.

2) Contacting Pattern: How materials flow through and
contact each other in the reactor.
3) Performance equations: These equations relates input to
output: Output  f input,.kinetics,.contacting
Introduction

Our objective is to find the expression which relates

input to output for various kinetics and contacting
patterns.
With this expression(s), we can compare different design &
conditions, find which is the best, and then scale up the large
units.

We emphasis on single phase systems (gas or liquid flowing

through the reactor) and heterogeneous reacting systems (two or
more phases contact each other).
Introduction – Simple Reactor Types

Idealized Flow Patterns:

1) Batch Reactor: Uniform composition everywhere in the

reactor is assumed. However, the composition changes with
time.
2) Plug Flow Reactor (PFR): Fluid passes through the reactor
with no mixing of earlier and later entering fluid, and with
no overtaking.
3) Mixed Flow Reactor (CSTR): Uniform mixing is assumed.
Same composition everywhere within the reactor and at the
exit stream.
Reactors:
Where the things are cooked.

Courtesy of O. Levenspiel, The Chemical Reactor Omnibook

Reactors
CSTR

BATCH PFR
Chemical Identity

A chemical species is said to have reacted when it loses its

chemical identity.

Identity of a chemical species is determined by the kind,

number, and configuration of that species' atoms.
Three ways a chemical species can
lose its chemical identity:
Decomposition Combination
CH3CH3  H2 + H2C=CH2 N2 + O2  2NO

Isomerization: C2H5CH=CH2  CH2=C(CH3)2

 Reaction Rate

Reaction rate is the rate at which a species loses its

chemical identity, per unit volume.
Rate of a reaction can be expressed as
rate of disappearance of a reactant
or
rate of appearance of a product.

Consider A  B
rA = rate of formation of species A per unit volume
-rA = rate of a disappearance of species A per unit volume
rB = rate of formation of species B per unit volume
 Reaction Rate

Consider species j:
rj = rate of formation of species j per unit volume [mol/m3s]
rj = function of Ci, T, P, and the type of catalyst (if any)
rj = independent of type of reaction system (batch, plug flow, etc.)
rj is an algebraic equation, not a differential equation

We use algebraic equation to relate –rA to Ci of reacting species

& to reaction T e.g. -rA = k(T)CA2
Rate Equations

For a single phase reaction:

aA + bB  cC + dD

Reaction rate of A is defined as:

amount.of . A.disappearing 1 dN A
 rA  
volumetime V dt
Rate of
disappearance of
A
Rate Equations

For a single phase reaction:

aA + bB  cC + dD

Relationship between rate of A and rate of other species:

 rA  rB  rC  rD
  
a b c d
Rate Equations

The rate of reaction is influenced by the composition and the

Energy (temperature) of the material.

 temperarure   concentration 
  
 rA  f  dependent ,  dependent 
 term   term 
  
Rate Laws - Temperature effect

A rate law describes the behavior of a reaction.


Power Law Model  rA  kCA
k is the specific reaction rate constant and is given by the
Arrhenius Equation:
T ∞ k  ko
k
 E / RT
k  ko e
T0 k0

T
Rate Laws – Temperature effect

where:
E = activation energy (cal/mol)
R = gas constant (cal/mol*K)
T = temperature (K)
ko = frequency factor (units of ko & k depend on reaction order)

E1
ln k  ln ko    Slope = -E/R
R T  ln k

 E  1 1 
k T2   k T1  exp    
 R  T1 T2  1/T
Determination of Activation Energy

T, K k, s-1
Calculate the activation
energy for the 313 0.00043
decomposition of
benzene diazonium 319 0.00103
chloride to chlorobenzene
and nitrogen. 323 0.0018
328 0.00355
333 0.00717
Determination of Activation Energy

Plot ln k vs 1/T
T, K k, s-1 1/T ln k
313 0.00043 0.003195 -7.75173
319 0.00103 0.003135 -6.8782
323 0.0018 0.003096 -6.31997
328 0.00355 0.003049 -5.64081
333 0.00717 0.003003 -4.93785
Determination of Activation Energy

-4
0.003 0.0031 0.0032
-5
ln k

-6

-7
R = 8.314
J/mol.K
y = -14612x + 38.925
-8
1/T
-E/R = -14612  E = 121,484.168 J/mol
ln ko = 38.925  ko = 8.034x1016 s-1
k = 8.034x1016 exp(-121 484/RT) s-1
Units of k

CA -rA Reaction Rate Law k

Order

mol/m3 mol/m3s 0th -rA = k mol/m3s

1st -rA = kCA s-1

2nd -rA = kCA2 m3/mol s

 Rate Laws – Concentration effect
The concentration dependent term is often found by
guessing. Always try the simple forms first.

Reaction Rate Law As an example:

Order For nth order reaction:

0th -rA = k  rA  kCAn

1st -rA = kCA ln(rA )  n ln C A  ln k y  ax  b
2nd -rA = kCA2 A plot of ln(-rA) vs. lnCA gives
a linear line with n as the
nth -rA = kCAn slope and lnk as the intercept.
 Example

For the reaction: A B and the data CA -rA

shown in the Table, is it reasonable to 2 0.2
represent the rate-concentration
relationship by an nth order kinetics
5 12.1
expression? If so, find the reaction 10 14.9
order. 15 15.1
 Example

CA CB -rA
For the reaction: A + B Products,
and the data shown in the Table, find
2 125 50
the reaction order with respect to A 2 64 32
and B.
3 64 48
 Elementary Reactions

A reaction follows an elementary rate law if and only if

(iff) the stoichiometric coefficients are the same as the
individual reaction order of each species.
For the reaction in the previous example
A+ B  C + D
rate law would be:
-rA = kCACB
Write the reaction rate for the following elementary reactions:
1) 2NO + O2 2NO2
2) 2C6H6 C12H10 + H2
Reversible Reactions

Net rate of formation of any species is equal to its rate of

formation in the forward reaction plus its rate of formation
in the reverse reaction:

ratenet = rateforward + ratereverse

At equilibrium

ratenet = 0
and the rate law must reduce to an equation that is
thermodynamically consistent with the equilibrium
constant for the reaction.