Reaction kinetic studies in a

batch reactor
Background and Theory
The Batch reactor is the generic term for a type of
vessel widely used in the process industries. In a
batch reactor the reactants and the catalyst are
placed in the reactor and the reaction is allowed
to proceed for a given time whereupon the
mixture of unreacted material together with the
products is withdrawn. Provision for mixing may The advantages of a batch reactor lies in its
be required. In an ideal batch reactor, the versatility. A single vessel can carry out a
concentration and temperature are assumed to sequence of different operations without the need
be spatially uniform. In practice, the condition can to break containment. This is particularly useful
be approximately realized by vigorous agitation when processing, toxic or highly potent
or stirring..All the elements of the fluid spend the compounds.
same amount of time in the reactor, and hence
have the same residence time. From the viewpoint Material balance :
of thermodynamics, a batch reactor represents a rate of input - rate of output- rate of
closed system. The steady states of the batch disappearance = rate of accumulation
reactor correspond to states of reaction equilibria.

Bacth reactors are simple and needs little

supporting equipment, and is therefore ideal for
small scale experimental studies on reaction
A batch reactor has neither inflow nor outflow of
kinetics.Industrially it is used when relatively small
reactants or products while the reaction is being
amounts of material are to treated and when the
carried out. .The resulting general
product demand varies. Batch reactors are often
mole balance on species j is
used in the pharmaceutical industry, where small
volumes of high-value products are made.
Researchers typically use a batch reactor to study
reaction kinetics under ideal conditions. A batch
reactor can be used to find the reaction rate If the reaction mixture is perfectly mixed so that
constant, activation energy and order of the there is no variation in the reate of reaction
reaction. The data reflect the intrinsic kinetics for throughout the reactor volume, rj can be taken
the reaction being investigated. out of the integral and the mole balance can be
A typical batch reactor consists of a tank with an written as
agitator and integral heating/cooling system.
Liquids and solids are usually charged via
connections in the top cover of the reactor.
Vapors and gases also discharge through
connections in the top. Liquids are usually Consider an elementary reaction ...aA + bB --> cC
discharged out of the bottom. + dD
Rate of disappearance of A=-rA=dNA/dt

Where NA is the number of moles in the reactor

at any time Consatnt volume conditions can be
assumed for most of the liquid phase reactions or
for gas phase reactions with no change in number
of moles Then NA=V*CA where CA is the
concentration of A in the reactor.
then -rA=dCA/dt
Then for the reaction given above
Where M=CBo/CAo and XA is the conversion of
A.
M is the initial ratio of concentrations of B
(C Bo)to A(CAo) in the reactor.
After breakdown into partial fractions,integration
and rearrangement, the final result is
Plot

Where .... k= rate constant Where ,t= time , M = CBo/CAo,

a is the order of reaction w.r.t A and b is the order
w.r.t B. If the order of the reaction w.r.t each XA is conversition of A at given time
reactant are equal to the stoichiometric
coefficients of these reactants, then the reaction is The above equation is valid for M>1.
elementary.Else it is non elementary.

Order and the rate constants of the reaction can

be obtained by experiments. Mainly two types of
analysis may be used for rate law determination.
(a) Integral method of analysis
If the data points fits well into a straight line then
(b) Differential method of analysis.
the assumption of second order kinetics is true.
Integral method of analysis
The rate constant may be calculated from the
Consider a reaction A+B --> C+D
slope of the line .
Assume a rate equation.
Like

where k is the rate constant.

In terms of conversion and using the

If M=1 then,
The rate equation may be approximated
as
Where k is the rate constant.k0 is the frequency
Then the integrated form of the rate equation factor. E is the activation energy, R is the gas
constant ,T is the absolute temperature.
is

Then plot
If the rate equation assumed is right, then the plot
fits well into a straight line with slope=k.
b) Differetial method of analysis.

• Hypothesize a rate equation. Let this

be . where n is the assumed
order.
• Obtain concentration(CA) vs. time data
from the batch experiments. Draw CA vs.
time. Draw tangents at various points .
Find the slopes.these slopes are dCA/dt
are the rates of reaction(-rA) at these
concentrations.
• Taking logs on both sides of the rate
equation will give ln(-rA)=lnk+n.

ln(-CA)

• Plot of ln(-rA) vs ln(-CA) will give a straight

line with slope n (order) if the assumed
form of rate equation is correct.k may be
obtained from the intercept.
The reaction rate, r, is generally dependent on the
reactant concentration and the rate constant (k).
The rate constant can be determined by using a
known empirical reaction rates that is adjusted for
temperature using the Arrhenius temperature
dependence. Generally, as the temperature
increases so does the rate at which the reaction
occurs.
Temperature dependency of rate is given by
Arrhenius equation.