CH3143 – Reactor Engineering

Tutorial - 1

Stirred Batch Reactors

1. The reaction A + 2B → C + 2D is carried out in an isothermal, perfectly stirred batch reactor

at 80 °C. The reaction rate can be described as second-order, i.e. rA = k.CA .CB, where k =
0.058 m3/(kmol·min). At 80 °C, 200 kg of material A (MA=90 g/mol) and 400 kg of material
B (MB=90 g/mol) is measured into the reactor. At this point, the (liquid) reaction mixture has
a volume of 850 dm3. The reaction does not change the volume. What conversion can be
achieved in 35 minutes?

2. An A + 2B → C + 2D reaction is carried out in solution at 90 °C in an isothermal, perfectly

stirred batch reactor. The reaction rate can be described as second-order, i.e. rA = k.CA .CB,
where k = 0.1 m3/(kmol·min). The solvent is fed into the tank reactor first, then 20 kg of
material A (MA = 90 g/mol) and 50 kg of material B (MB = 90 g/mol) are added. The (liquid)
reaction mixture has a volume of 900 dm3 at this point. The reaction causes no volume
change. How much time is required to reach 90% conversion?

3. An isomerization reaction is carried out in a batch reactor. The reaction is first-order, both
isomers are liquids with a density of 900 kg/m3 at 163 °C. The reactor is filled in 10 minutes
and emptied in 12 minutes. During the 14 minutes required to heat up the reactor, the reaction
is negligible, it can be assumed to begin only when 163 °C is reached. 900 t of product must
be synthesized in 7000 hours of operation per year. Conversion is 97%.

What is the required volume of the stirred batch reactor operated isothermally at 163 °C? The
reaction rate coefficient is 0.8 1/h.

4. The hydrolysis of acetic anhydride in a dilute aqueous solution appears to be a first-order

reaction:
(CH3CO)2O + H2O → 2CH3COOH

A + B → 2C
In a dilute solution (cA < 0.2 mol/dm3) the reaction rate coefficient can be calculated with the
following equation:

𝑘 = 9.2335 × 10 𝑒 ,
 CH3143 – Reactor Engineering

If 200 kg/h acetic acid must be produced at 35 °C with an initial anhydride concentration of
0.2 mol/dm3, what is the required volume of the reactor? Servicing time is 15 min per batch.
The desired conversion is 98%.

5. Ethyl Acetate is to be manufactured by the esterification of acetic acid with ethanol in an

isothermal batch rector. A production rate of 10 tonnes per day of ethyl acetate is required.

CH 3COOH  C2 H 5OH  CH 3COOC2 H 5  H 2O

A B M N

The reactor will be charged with a mixture containing 500 kg/m3 ethanol and 250 kg/m3
acetic acid, the remainder being water and small quantity of HCl acid to act as a catalyst. The
density of this mixture is 1045 kg/m3 and can be assumed constant throughout the reaction.
The reaction is reversible with a rate equation, which over the concentration range of interest
can be written as r  k f C A C B  k r C M C N

At the operating temperature of 100 0C. The rate constant has the values

k f  8.0  10 6 m3/kmol/s

k r  2.7  10 6 m3/kmol/s

The reaction mixture will be discharged when the conversion of acetic acids is 30 mole %.
A time of 30 minutes is required between batches for discharging, cleaning and recharging.
Determine the volume of reactor required.
 CH3143 – Reactor Engineering

Continuous Stirred Tank Reactors

1. A second-order, irreversible reaction (2A→T) is carried out in a continuous stirred tank
reactor. In the feed stream (0.4 m3/h) component A is present in a concentration of 1
kmol/m3. The reaction rate coefficient is 7.8 m3·(kmol·min)-1. The required conversion is
98%.
(i). Calculate the necessary reactor volume.
(ii). Calculate the daily feed reactant consumption.

2. Acetic anhydride is hydrolyzed in a continuous stirred tank reactor at 25 °C. The reaction is
pseudo-first-order. In the feed stream (0.4 m 3/h) the concentration of acetic anhydride is 1
kmol/m3. The reaction rate coefficient is 0.0806 min-1. The required conversion is 98%.

(i). Calculate the required reactor volume.

(ii). How will the conversion change if the feed is increased by 20%.

3. The hydrolysis of acetic anhydride is carried in a continuous stirred tank reactor at 25°C.
The reaction is pseudo-first-order. The feed stream (0.6 m3/h) is a 0.9 kmol/m3 solution of
acetic anhydride. The reaction rate coefficient is 0.0806 min-1. The desired conversion is
97%. Calculate the required volume of the reactor.

4. The laboratory synthesis of hexamethylene tetramine (C) from aqueous solutions of

ammonia (A) and formaldehyde (B) proceeds at 36 °C, in a continuous stirred tank reactor
(CSTR). The mixing can be considered as ideal. The reactor has a useful volume of 490
cm3. The density of the reaction mixture does not change. The feed streams enter the reactor
via two separate pipes at a rate of 1.5 cm3/s each. Stream A contains 4.06 mol/dm3 of
ammonia, stream B contains 6,32 mol/dm 3 formaldehyde. The consumption rate of A can be
calculated with the formula rA = k.CA . CB2.

The reaction rate constant is given by 𝑘 = 1.42 × 10 𝑒 , where T denotes the

.

absolute temperature. The reaction equation is as follows:

4NH3 + 6HCHO → (CH2)6N4 + 6H2O
Calculate the outlet concentrations and the conversion at steady state.