MANIPAL UNIVERSITY JAIPUR

Department of chemical Engineering

CHEMICAL REACTION ENGINEERING LAB

VII YEAR, SEMESTER-6

EXPERIMENT#6
RTD IN PLUG FLOW REACTOR

INSTRUCTUR
IR.Nandna Chakinala

NAME-Amoluck Bhatia
ID-209101001

DATE OF EXPERIMENT-2/02/2023

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY…………………………………………………………............... (10)

INTRODUCTION/OBJECTIVES/SCOPE/PROCEDURE ……………………….….. (30)
RESULTS & DISCUSSION…………………………………………………………............. (30)
CONCLUSION…………………………………………………………………………………….. (10)

REFERENCES …………………………………………………………………………………….. (5)

APPENDIX Original data, sample calculations, other information………. (5)

GENERAL COMPLETENESS Conciseness and neatness………………………… (10)

TOTAL…………………………………………………………………………………………………. (100)

CONTENT TABLE
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
1.OBJECTIVE
2.INTRODUCTION
3.EXPERIMENTAL SETUP
4.PROCEDURE
5.RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
6.CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
7.REFRENCE
8.APPENDEX
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The purpose of this experiment was to investigate PFR behavior utilizing a
tracer's pulse input and to calculate the variables' mean residence time,
variance, dispersion number, and dispersion coefficient was achieved by
running water through a PFR, injecting a tracer pulse at the intake, and
detecting the tracer concentration at the outflow. Two alternative flowrates—
3800 and 700 ml per hour—were used for the experiment. The computed
mean residence time at 3800 ml/h is 3.562 minutes, the variance is 7.2846
minutes, and the dispersion number is 0.287 and At a flow rate of 700 ml/h,
the computed mean residence time is 7.469 min, the variance is 49.435 min,
and the dispersion number is 0.4162. Both examples had low dispersion
numbers, which indicates  plug flow behaviour. The mean residence time and
variance are completely dependent on the flowrate. Lower the flowrate, higher
is the mean residence time and variance. 
OBJECTIVE
To study the behaviour of PFR using a pulse input f a tracer and determine
1.mean residence time
2.variance
3.dispersion number
4.dispersion coefficient

INTRODUCTION
Plug flow reactors and mixed flow reactors have various behaviours, and we
attempt to attain either of these flows since they are convenient to handle and
frequently represent the best flow pattern in reactors. However, actual
equipment frequently deviates from these standards due to several flow-
related issues, including:
1. The residence time distribution of material which is flowing through the
vessel.
2. The state of aggregation of the following material, its tendency to clump and
form a group of molecules to move about together.
3. The earliness and lateness of mixing of material in the vessel.
Residence time distribution (RTD); The amount of time required for a fluid
element to travel a specific path through the reactor before exiting the vessel
is referred to as the fluid's exit age distribution (E) or residence time
distribution (RTD), and it is provided for non-ideal flow. It is convenient to
depict the RTD so that the area under the curve equals one because E has units
of time 1.
∞

∫ Edt =1
0

The E curve has one limitation in that the fluid only enters and exits the vessel
once. This means that neither the vessel's entrance nor its exit should have any
flow, diffusion, or up flow eddies. The closed vessel boundary condition is what
is meant by this. The open vessel border condition is present when fluid
particles can repeatedly cross the vessel barrier.
The RTD curve resembles that seen in Figure 1 below.
Figure 1Exit age distribution curve in Figure 1. Also referred to as the RTD curve, the E tor Muid
flowing through a vessel

Experimental Techniques (Nonchemical) for Determining E: Using a physical or

nonreactive tracer is the quickest and most straightforward technique to
determine the E curve. There are four possible methods for examining the
internal flow patterns of a vessel, which are shown in Figure 2 below. The
periodic and random experiments are more difficult to comprehend than the
pulse and step studies, hence this experiment uses a pulse tracer.
The Pulse Experiment: Using a vessel with a volume of V m3 and a flow rate of
V m'/s. Instantaneously put into the fluid entering the vessel is a tracer of M
units (kg or moles), and the concentration-time of the tracer leaving the vessel
is noted. The Cpulse curve is then revealed. The material balance for the vessel,
as shown below, provides the area under the curve and the mean of the curve.

[ ]
∞
M Kg . s
A=∫ C dt ≅ ∑ Ci ∆ t i=
0 i ϑ m3
∞

∫ tCdt ∑ C i ∆ ti
' 0 i V
t= ≅ = [S]
∞
∑ C i ∆ ti ϑ
∫ Cdt i
0

The E curve can be converted to the Cpulse curve by simply changing the
concentration scale such that the area under the curve is unity. Thus, the
concentration readings are simply divided by M/v.
Figure 2Various ways of studying the flow pattern in vessels.

C pulse
E=
M
V

Models are helpful for scalability, identifying poor flow, and reflecting flow in
real vessels. Depending on whether the flow is mixed, close to the plug, or
somewhere in between, we have many versions. The dispersion model and the
tanks-in-series model are two models that largely address minor deviations
from plug flow. They are comparable in size. These models can be used to
simulate turbulent flow in pipes, laminar flow in extremely long tubes, packed
bed flow, shaft D kilns, long, ideal screw of vessel, conveyers, tracer and is to,
among other types of flow.
AXIAL DISPERSION: - When an ideal pulse of tracer is introduced into the fluid
entering a vessel, the pulse spreads as it passes through the vessel, and to
characterize the spreading according to this model, We assume a diffusion-like
process superimposed on plug flow reactor. We call this dispersion or
longitudinal dispersion, and the dispersion coefficient D represents this
spreading process. Thus,
large D means rapid spreading of the tracer curve
small D means slow spreading
D=0 means no spreading, hence plug flow 
EXPERIMENTAL SETUP
Figure 3's experiment setup is incorrect. No such source was found. includes
two feed tanks, one of which is filled with water. The other feed tank is
connected to a rotameter, which is used to set the feed tank's flowrate by
opening valve 1. The PFR is connected to the outlet of the rotameter. The
tracer is injected into the PFR through a hole at the top of the device.
By opening valve 1, the sample is taken from the PFR's bottom. Rhodamine-B is
the chemical that was employed as a tracer in Dye. The UV spectrophotometer
measures the collecting sample's absorbance.

Figure 3Experimental Setup for RTD in PFR study

Chemicals required:
1. Rhodamine-B dye
Preparation of dye solution:
1. Take 0.02g of Rhodamine B and add to 20mL of water to make 1000ppm
solution
2. Take 20mL of 1000ppm dye and add 180mL water to make 100 ppm
solution,
3. Take 150mL of the 100ppm dye and add 1.35L of water to make 10ppm dye
solution.
4. 1mL of 10ppm dye solution is mixed with 9mL water to make 1 ppm dye
solution. 
5. Similarly, all the integral concentration from 1-10ppm is made.

Concentration-absorbance curve using UV spectrometer:

1. Solution of different concentration (1 to 10ppm) of dye are made
2. The absorbance of the solutions is measured using UV-Spectrometer:
3. Absorbance v/s concentration curve is plotted.

PROCEDURE
1. Add 10 mg of dye to 200 ml of water to get a sample with a 50-ppm
concentration.
2. Fill one of the feed tanks with water.
3. Using the included rotameters, adjust the water flow rate,
4. Enable the PFR to be filled with water.
5. Add 10ml of the tracer Rhodamine-B to the PFR after steady state has been
reached and wait 10 minutes.
6. Take 10 mL of the mixture from the PFR 2 minutes after the tracer is added
and use a UV spectrophotometer to measure the absorbance.
7. Keep taking samples up until the water exiting the PFR is clear and dye-free.
8. Repetition of steps 4 through 7 will yield a second set of values for the same
flowrate.
9. Adjust the flowrate again and record two sets of readings for both the
flowrates

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Rhodamine-B dye, which is normally unreactive in the presence of water, was
used as a pulse input tracer for the experiment. First, samples of the dye at
known concentrations are placed in a spectrometer, and the absorbance at
555 nm is recorded. UV light's visible light wavelength. The slop of the curve is
determined by plotting this data, as seen in Figure 4.

Calibration curve
3

2.5 f(x) = 0.265724675324675 x

R² = 0.996049473356216

1.5

0.5

0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12

Figure 4 CALIBRATION CURVE

The concentration of the samples taken from the experiment at various time
intervals and their absorbance under conditions comparable to those for the
calibration data are determined using a straight line with a slope of 0.216 that
is obtained by plotting the calibration curve.
The RTD study is carried out by flowing water through the PFR by setting up
the taking 2 sets off readings for each flowrate and at 2 different flowrates.
Firstly, the rotameter is set at a flowrate of 3800 ml/hr and concentrations of
the tracer at every 2 mins are noted These readings are then graphically
represented as shown in Figure 5.
 outlet concentration data at 3800mlph
2.5

2
concentration

1.5

0.5

0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14
time

Figure 5outlet concentration curve at 3800mlph

As expected for a pulse input tracer, the outflow concentration curve was
produced. Due to the high flowrate, not all the tracer is released, and most of
it is dead volume. The mean residence time was computed using the
concentration vs. time data to be 3.562 min, the variance to be 7.2846 min,
and the dispersion number to be 0.287. The high-water flowrate results in the
low residence time, and a small variance indicates less spread in the tracer
flow. The plug flow characteristic is demonstrated by the low values of the
dispersion number.
Figure 6 shows the readings visually when the rotameter is set to a flowrate of
700 ml/hr.

concentration vs time for 700mlph

25

20
concentration

15

10

0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40

time

Figure 6 concentration vs time plot for 700mlph

The outflow concentration curve was created, as one would anticipate from a
pulse input tracer. Not all the tracer is released because of the high flowrate;
instead, much of it is dead volume.
Using the concentration vs. time data, the mean residence time was calculated
to be 3.562 min, the variance to be 7.2846 min, and the dispersion number to
be 0.287 min. Low residence time is caused by the high-water flowrate, and a
small variance shows less dispersion in the tracer flow. The low values of the
dispersion number illustrate the plug flow feature.

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

After comparing the two examples, it was determined that the mean residence
time and variance of the tracer both rise with a reduction in flow rate.
Additionally, it was determined that small values of the dispersion number
indicate the behaviour of plug flow for the tracer flow through a reactor.
PRECAUTIONS
1. Ensure all valves and connections are tight.
2. Consider errors while calculations.
3. Take safety measures while performing the experiment.

REFERENCE
1. Levenspiel, 0., Chemical Reaction Engineering, 3rd ed., Wiley India Pvt Ltd,
2010.
2. Perry, R. H. and D. Green, Perry's Chemical Engineers' Handbook, 8th
edition, MeGraw-
Hill, 2008. 

APENDIX
AVG. CONCENTRATION
TIME (min) SET-1 SET-2 ABSORBANCE (ppm) TiCi Ti^2Ci
0 0.005 0.036 0.0205 0.095 0 0
2 0.248 0.243 0.2455 1.137 2.273 4.546
4 0.085 0.075 0.08 0.37 1.481 5.926
6 0.044 0.025 0.0345 0.16 0.958 5.75
8 0.029 0.019 0.024 0.111 0.889 7.111
10 0.017 0.031 0.024 0.111 1.111 11.111
12 0.006 0.012 0.009 0.042 0.5 6
Figure 7observation table at 3800mlph

TIME SET-1 SET-2 AVG. CONENTRATION TiCi Ti^2Ci

 (min) ABSORBANCE (ppm)
0 0.012 0.012 0.012 0.059 0 0
2 1.601 1.864 1.732 8.021 16.042 32.083
4 0.909 1.042 0.975 4.516 18.065 72.259
6 0.432 1.042 0.737 3.412 20.472 122.833
8 0.355 0.627 0.491 2.273 18.185 145.481
10 0.266 0.391 0.328 1.521 15.208 152.083
12 0.191 0.284 0.237 1.1 13.194 158.333
14 0.153 0.251 0.202 0.935 13.093 183.296
16 0.129 0.19 0.159 0.738 11.815 189.037
18 0.094 0.124 0.109 0.505 9.083 163.5
20 0.08 0.117 0.098 0.456 9.12 182.407
22 0.078 0.097 0.087 0.405 8.912 196.065
24 0.059 0.077 0.068 0.315 7.556 181.333
26 0.046 0.063 0.054 0.252 6.56 170.565
28 0.44 0.051 0.047 0.22 6.157 172.407
30 0.039 0.034 0.036 0.169 5.069 152.083
32 0.031 0.031 0.031 0.144 4.593 146.963
34 0.029 0.029 0.028 0.132 4.486 152.528
Figure 8 observation at 700mlph

Sample calculation: -
FLOWRATE: -800MLPH
Mean residence time,
∞

∫ tCdt ∑ C i ∆ ti
' 0 i 7.213 X 2
t= ∞ ≅ = =3.562 min
∑ C i ∆ t i 2.025 X 2
∫ Cdt i
0

2
∑ t 2i Ci ∆ t i
40.444 X 2
VARIANCE,σ = i −t '2= −( 3.562 )2=7.2846 min2
∑ Ci ∆ t i 2.025 X 2
i

D
DISPERSION NUMBER, μL 2 2 = 2
=
t' ( )
1 σ 2 1 7.2846
2 ( 3.562 )2
=0.287