Assignment 2: 16th Sep 2014. Note: These are 2013 Quiz II problem in this course.

1. Consider the liquid phase reaction A → B occurring in an adiabatically operated CSTR.

The molar flow rate of A in feed is 20 mol-s-1 and the molar flow rate of inert is 80 mol-s-1.
Given Cp-A = Cp-B = Cp-inerts = 200 J/mol/K.. The heat of reaction at 20 oC is -60,000 J/mol
A reacted. The feed temperature is 300 K. At the inlet, the volumetric flow rate of A is 10
lit/s and the volumetric flow rate of inerts is 10 lit/s. The rate constant is given by
−5000
k =105 e T −1
s , where T is in K. Determine the volume of reactor needed to obtain 50%
conversion. What is the temperature of the product at the outlet? What is the corresponding
value of the rate constant? Assume steady state conditions (7 marks).

2. The above reaction is conducted adiabatically in a CSTR of unknown volume, (under the
same feed conditions), and the outlet temperature is found to be 342 K. Determine the
conversion, the value of the rate constant at that temperature and the volume of the CSTR.
Assume steady state conditions. (5 marks)

3. Solve the first problem if the reaction is to be conducted in a PFR instead of a CSTR, with
everything else remaining the same. What is the volume of PFR needed to obtain a
conversion of 0.3? Assume steady state conditions. (Hint: Any numerical integration needed
b
such as ∫ f ( x) dx may be performed by incrementing x in steps of 0.1, and using trapezoidal
a

method) (10 marks)

k1 k2
4. The following reactions occur isothermally in a batch reactor. A  → B , B  → 2C ,
k
A ↽






k
3
⇀ k4

2C , and C  → D . The corresponding rate constants are k1=5 min-1, k2=10 min-1,
−3

k3=10 min-1, k-3=1 min-1, and k4=3 min-1. Initially, the reactor is charged with 100 moles of
pure A and the reactor volume is 50 lit. After a very long time, what are the concentrations of
each species A, B, C and D in the reactor? (3 marks)