INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL FOR RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT IN
TECHNOLOGY
Modeling and simulation of a packed bed reactor using
MATLAB
__________________________________________________________________________________________
Swarnotpal Kashyap1
Department of Chemical Engineering, IIT Guwahati, India – 781039
Abstract:In this work, the modeling and simulation work of
a catalytic packed bed reactor has been presented. In a
catalytic packed bed reactor, the temperature and pressure
conditions play a major role in determining the output.
Simulation of the mathematical model of the real physical
system helps in taking decisions in real time and to provide a
feasible solution at the existing situations. The aim is to
model the reactor and study the output parameters such as
conversion and pressure drop with respect to the catalyst
weight by varying parameters such as feed flow rate, catalyst
porosity, temperature and initial reactant concentration.
Pressure drop has been modeled as a function of catalyst
weight using the Ergun equation and conversion has been
modeled as a function of the catalyst weight using Arrhenius
equation. Simulations of the modeled equations have been
carried out in the MATLAB software.Pressure drop inside
the packed bed reactor decreases as the catalyst weight
increases both for laminar and turbulent flow. Also, the
porosity of the catalyst particles has very less effect on the
pressure drop. Reaction conversion decreases with increase
in the reactant flow rate due to less residence time inside the
reactor. However, when reaction temperature and initial feed
concentration is increased, the conversion increases.
Keywords: packed bed reactor, conversion, pressure drop,
catalyst weight, modeling, simulation
Introduction
Catalytic packed bed reactors contain uniform-sized catalyst
particles, randomly arranged and fixed in place within a tube
or a vessel. When reactants in the form of fluids are fed to the
reactor, they come into contact with the catalyst particles and
undergo chemical reaction. Based on the nature of reaction
being exothermic or endothermic, they either release heat or
absorb heat. Catalytic packed bed reactors have become one of
the most widely used reactors for fluid-solid reactions where
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Volume-7,Issue-6 (June-17)
ISSN (O) :- 2349-3585
the reactants are in the form of fluids and the catalysts are in
the form of solids. Despite the development of newer types of
reactors for fluid-solid contacting, packed bed reactors find
widespread use in basic chemical industries (eg. production of
ammonia) and also in the petroleum industries (eg. hydrogen-
treatment and reforming).In this work, the packed bed reactor
has been modeled and simulated. Pressure drop has been
modeled as a function of catalyst weight using the Ergun
equation and conversion has been modeled as a function of the
catalyst weight using Arrhenius equation. Simulations have
been done using the MATLAB software. MATLAB is a high
level computing language which is user-friendly and can be
used for simulation.
II. Methods
In deriving a mathematical model for the packed bed reactor, a
one-dimensional pseudo-homogenous model has been
considered. This model can also be referred to as the plug-
flow model, since the transport mechanism considered is
convection. We assume constant physical properties of the
fluid throughout the reactor.
A. Variation of pressure drop with changing catalyst
weight
As the fluid passes through the packed bed of spheres it
experiences the pressure loss due to friction. To calculate the
pressure drop, Ergun equation is used.Pressure drop for the
laminar flow through packed bed of spheres of diameter d_(p
)may be calculated using Kozeny-Carman equation
(1)
Pressure drop for the turbulent flow through packed bed of
spheres of diameter dp may be calculated using equation
(2)
So, the general equation for the pressure drop for both the
flow conditions:-
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Paper Title:- Modeling and simulation of a packed bed reactor using MATLAB

(3) Effect of change in catalyst porosity on pressure drop was

studied.
B. Variation of conversion with changing catalyst weight

The variation of conversion with catalyst weight was modeled

Where f is the friction factor and is given by using basic mass balance equation and assuming that

(4) Arrhenius model is valid. An equation relating conversion as a

function of catalyst weight is modeled.
( ) From the mass-balance equation, we get
(8)
( )
Also, rate of a reaction can be written as
Relation between porosity and catalyst weight (W)
W = AH (1 ) (5) (9)
Where, Equating them,
W is catalyst
A is cross-sectional area
H is depth of the bed (10)
catalyst particle density
Where,
Rex is the Reynolds number
X = Equilibrium conversion
CAO = Initial concentration
Therefore,
∆W = Change in catalyst weight
Now,
Fo = Feed flow rate
k = Reaction rate constant
( ) ko = Arrhenius constant

Simulation is done by varying different parameters in the

Substituting f into the general pressure drop equation
equation like initial concentration, flow rate and temperature.
Graphs are plotted using MATLAB for each case. Effect of
* ( )+ (6)
catalyst weight on the reaction conversion is studied.
III. Results and Discussions
(7) A. Variation of pressure drop with catalyst weight
The mathematical model for the variation of pressure drop
Where, with catalyst weight has been simulated in MATLAB with
variation in the feed flow rates, that is laminar flow and
turbulent flow. Effect of catalyst porosity on pressure drop has
( )
also been studied.In figure 1 (a) and (b), the variation of
pressure drop with catalyst weight for both laminar (Re<10)
The ODE equation is solved using in-built MATLAB function
and turbulent flow (Re>>10) conditions has been shown. It is
‘ode45’. Process parameters were embedded in a function file
seen that both for laminar and turbulent flow conditions, the
(with .m extension). Simulations are done assuming laminar flow
pressure drop decreases with increase in the catalyst mass
(Re<10) and turbulent flow (Re>>10) for the packed bed reactor.
inside the reactor.Further, it is seen that pressure drop obtained

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ISSN:-2349-3585 |www.ijrdt.org
Paper Title:- Modeling and simulation of a packed bed reactor using MATLAB

for turbulent flow is much less than that of laminar flow

conditions. It is because, pressure drop for laminar flow is
directly proportional to velocity whereas pressure drop for
turbulent flow is proportional to the square of velocity. Thus,
increase in velocity in case of turbulent flow has a more
profound effect on pressure drop than that of laminar flow.

Fig. 2 Variation of pressure drop with catalyst weight

(turbulent flow with increase in catalyst porosity)
Figure 2 shows the effect of change in catalyst porosity on
pressure drop. It is seen on comparing fig. 1 (b) and fig. 2 that
for same flow rate (turbulent flow), pressure drop obtained is
the same whether the catalyst porosity remains same or is
increased. So, it can be concluded that catalyst porosity has
little or no effect on the pressure drop.
B. Variation of conversion with catalyst weight
The modeled equation for change in conversion with catalyst
weight has been simulated in MATLAB. Parameters such as
feed flow rate, temperature and initial reactant concentration
has been varied and their effects studied. Fig. 3 shows the
(a)
effect of catalyst weight on conversion. It is seen that
conversion increases with increase in the catalyst weight. It is
because with more amounts of catalysts there are more
number of catalytically active sites for the reactants. As such,
for the same reactant concentration there is an increase in the
product concentration which results in the increase of
conversion.

(b)
Fig. 1 Variation of pressure drop with catalyst weight
Fig. 3 Variation of conversion with catalyst weight
(a) laminar flow (b) turbulent flow

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Paper Title:- Modeling and simulation of a packed bed reactor using MATLAB
Fig. 4 (a) shows the variation of conversion with catalyst
weight when the feed flow rate is increased. It is observed on
comparing fig. 3 and fig. 4 (a) that in fig. 3, the maximum
conversion obtained is 0.97 while in fig. 4 (a), the maximum
conversion is 0.96. It is thus seen that with an increase in the
flow rate the conversion decreases. The decrease in conversion
can be attributed to the fact that with increase in the flow rate,
the residence time inside the reactor decreases. As residence
time decreases, the reactants get less time to get converted to
products. Hence, product concentration decreases and
conversion also decreases.
(a)
(b)
Fig. 4 Variation of conversion with changing catalyst
weight when (a) flow rate increases (b) temperature
increases (800oC)
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Fig. 4 (b) shows the variation of conversion with catalyst
weight when reaction temperature increases. It is seen on
comparing figures 3 and 4 (b) that on increasing the
temperature the maximum conversion increases from 0.97 to
0.98. Thus, an increase in temperature enhances the rate of
reaction and consequently, the conversion. This is because at
higher temperatures molecules attain higher intermolecular
energy. With the help of this energy, they are able to break
free of the chemical bonds tying them to other molecules.
Thus, at higher temperatures more number of ‘free’ molecules
are available for reaction which increases the product
concentration per unit of reactants supplied. This results in an
increase of the reaction conversion.
Fig. 5 Variation of conversion with catalyst weight when
initial concentration of reactant increases
Fig. 5 shows the variation of conversion with catalyst weight
when initial reactant concentration increases. It is seen that
when initial concentration increases, conversion obtained is
0.99, which is higher than the conversions obtained in the
earlier cases. It is because the rate of a reaction is directly
proportional to the initial reactant concentration, so on
increasing the reactant concentration the rate of reaction also
increases thereby increasing the product concentration. This
results in an increase in the conversion.Also, it is seen that on
increasing the initial reactant concentration, high conversions
are obtained at very low catalyst weights. This means that if
we increase the initial concentration, then we can get the same
conversion at low catalyst masses. Since catalysts are quite
ISSN:-2349-3585 |www.ijrdt.org
Paper Title:- Modeling and simulation of a packed bed reactor using MATLAB

expensive to manufacture or buy, increasing the reactant

concentration fed to the reactor will minimize the overall cost
of the plant.
IV. Conclusions
In this paper, the modeling and simulation of a packed bed
reactor has been shown. The variations of pressure drop and
conversion with catalyst weight have been studied. Effect of
change in parameters such as flow rate and catalyst porosity
on pressure drop and effect of change in parameters such as
flow rate, temperature and initial reactant concentration on
reaction conversion have been studied. It has been found that
the pressure drop decreases with increase in the catalyst mass
inside the reactor for both laminar and turbulent flow
conditions. The pressure drop for turbulent flow is much less
than that of laminar flow conditions. Also, catalyst porosity
has little or no effect on the pressure drop.Conversion
increases with increase in the catalyst mass inside the reactor.
Further, it is seen that an increase in the feed flow rate
decreases the conversion. An increase in the reaction
temperature enhances the rate of reaction and consequently the
conversion. Rate of a reaction is directly proportional to the
initial reactant concentration, so on increasing the reactant
concentration the rate of reaction increases thereby increasing
the conversion.It is further observed that at high initial
reactant concentrations, high conversions are obtained even at
low catalyst weights. Thus, in order to minimize the need for
high-cost catalysts, reactants should be supplied at high
concentrations to the reactor. This would minimize the overall
cost of the plant.
References
•A.A. Iordanidis, Mathematical Modeling of Catalytic Fixed
Bed Reactors, Ph.D. thesis, University of Twente, 2002
•V. Báleš and P. Rajniak, Mathematical simulation of fixed
bed reactor using immobilized enzymes, Chem. Papers 40 (3)
329-338, 1986.

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