Reactors in Process Engineering
Gary L. Foutch
Arland H. Johannes
Oklahoma State University
I. Reactor Classifications
II. Primary Reactors
III. Generalized Reactor Design
IV. Special Reactor Configurations
GLOSSARY
Adiabatic reactor Vessel that is well insulated to mini-
mize heat transfer and has an increase or decrease in
temperature from the initial inlet conditions due solely
to the heats of reaction.
Batch reactor Vessel used for chemical reaction that has
no feed or effluent streams. The reactor is well stirred
and usually run either isothermally or adiabatically. The
main design variable is how much time the reactants are
allowed to remain in the reactor to achieve the desired
level of conversion.
Catalyst Substance that increases the rate of a chemical
reaction without being consumed in the reaction.
Continuous stirred tank reactor Sometimes called a
continuous-flow stirred-tank reactor, ideal mixer, or
mixed-flow reactor, all describing reactors with contin-
uous input and output of material. The outlet concen-
tration is assumed to be the same as the concentration
at any point in the reactor.
Conversion Fraction or percentage that describes the ex-
tent of a chemical reaction. Conversion is calculated by
dividing the number of moles of a reactant that reacted
by the initial moles of reactant. Conversion is defined
only in terms of a reactant.
Elementary reaction Reaction that has a rate equation
that can be written directly from a knowledge of the
stoichiometry.
Isothermal reactor Any type of chemical reactor oper-
ated at constant temperature.
Mean residence time Average time molecules remain in
the reactor. Note that this is different from space time.
Multiple reactions Series or parallel reactions that take
place simultaneously in a reactor. For example,
A + B → C and A + D → E are parallel reactions, and
A + B → C + D → E + F are series reactions.
Plug flow reactor Sometimes called a piston flow or a
perfect flow reactor. The plug flow reactor has contin-
uous input and output of material. The plug flow as-
sumption generally requires turbulent flow. No radial
concentration gradients are assumed.
Product distribution Fraction or percentage of products
in the reactor effluent.
Rate constant Constant that allows the proportional-
ity between rate and concentration to be written as
a mathematical relationship. The rate constant is a
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