One Parameter Model

• A single parameter to account for the nonideality of reactor.

• This parameter is always evaluated by analyzing the RTD
determined from a tracer test.
• Approaches of one-parameter models for tubular reactors include
• the tanks-in-series model
• the dispersion model.
• For the tanks-in-series model, the one parameter is the number of
tanks, n
• For the dispersion model, the one parameter is the dispersion
coefficient, Da

1
Tanks in series (TIS) Model
• This model can be used whenever the dispersion model is used; and for not
too large a deviation from plug flow both models give identical results, for all
practical purposes.
• The dispersion model has the advantage in that all correlations for flow in
real reactors invariably use that model.
• The tanks-in-series model is simple, can be used with any kinetics, and it can
be extended without too much difficulty to any arrangement of compartments,
with or without recycle

■ Consider n tanks in series then define

𝑡
𝜃𝑖 = Dimensionless time based on Mean residence time per tank
𝑡𝑖ҧ
𝑡
𝜃= Dimensionless time based on Mean residence time in all tanks
𝑡ҧ
𝜃 = 𝑁𝜃𝑖

ҧ
At any given time 𝐸 𝜃 = 𝑡𝐸(𝑡) Real System Model
2
Tanks in series (Tis) Model…
• Consider N tanks in series, with steady flow of v m3/s
• The first tank with volume V1 inject a pulse tracer at time t = 0
• When the tracer is evenly distributed in tank1 the concentration
becomes C0. Now consider material balance for tracer at time t

Real System 3
Model
 𝑣𝐶3 ∆𝑡 𝐶3 (𝑡)
𝐸 𝑡 ∆𝑡 = = ∞ ∆𝑡
𝑁 ‫׬‬0 𝐶3 𝑡 𝑑𝑡

• For the first reactor 𝐶1 = 𝐶0 𝑒 −𝑡Τ𝜏𝑖

𝑑𝐶2
• For the second reactor 𝑉2 = 𝑣𝐶1 − 𝑣𝐶2
𝑑𝑡
𝑉1 = 𝑉2 = 𝑉3 = 𝑉𝑖
𝜏1 = 𝜏2 = 𝜏3 = 𝜏𝑖

4
 1 −𝑡ൗ 𝑡 −𝑡ൗ
Single CSTR 𝐸 𝑡 = 𝑒 𝜏 2 CSTRs in series 𝐸 𝑡 = 2 𝑒 𝜏𝑖
𝜏 𝜏𝑖

𝐶3(𝑡) 𝐶0 𝑡 2 /(2𝜏 2 )𝑒 −𝑡/𝜏𝑖 𝑡 2 −𝑡ൗ

3 CSTRs in series 𝐸 𝑡 = ∞ = = 3
𝑒 𝜏𝑖
‫׬‬0 𝐶3 (𝑡)𝑑𝑡 ‫𝐶 ∞׬‬0 𝑡 2 𝑒 −𝑡/𝜏𝑖 𝑑𝑡 2𝜏
0 2𝜏𝑖2

𝑡 𝑛−1 −𝑡/𝜏𝑖 𝑛(𝑛𝜃)𝑛−1 −𝑛𝜃

For n reactors in series 𝐸 𝑡 = 𝑒 𝐸 𝜃 = 𝜏𝐸(𝑡) = 𝑒
(𝑛 − 1)! 𝜏𝑖𝑛 (𝑛 − 1)!

The total reactor volume is nVi, then i = /n, where  = V/v0

5
• Determine the number of tanks in series by calculating the dimensionless variance

6
 • This expression represents the number of
tanks necessary to model the real reactor
as n ideal tanks in series.
• If the number of reactors, turns out to be
small, the reactor characteristics will be close
to CSTR and if large then close to PFR

1st order reaction

7
Tanks in series (Tis) Model…
• The RTD curve with Exit
• When the number of the CSTRs are increased the system starts
behaving more like the plug flow reactor.

8
Example
• The first-order reaction A  B is carried out in a 10-cm-diameter tubular
reactor 6.36 m in length. The specific reaction rate is 0.25 min-1. The
results of a tracer test carried out on this reactor are shown in Table

First create a table -

Calculate the t C E t.E t2.E
conversion using (a) 0 0
PFR, (b) the tanks-in- 1 1
series model, and (c) 2 5
a single CSTR. 3 8
4 10 9
siMpson’s 1/3 rule
3 points

Quadrature
Formula
10
Dispersion Model
• Dispersion is local backmixing, which combines all the phenomena
happening namely molecular diffusion, turbulent mixing, and non-
uniform velocities, which give rise to a distribution of residence
times in the reactor
• These models apply when there is deviation from plug flow behavior
e.g. to turbulent flow in pipes, laminar flow in very long tubes, flow
in packed beds, shaft kilns, long channels, screw conveyers, etc.
• What is dispersion?
• It is spread and suggests how the distribution is.
• The dispersion coefficient D (m2/s) represents this spreading process.
Thus
• large D means rapid spreading
• small D means slow spreading
• D = 0 means no spreading, hence plug flow
11
Departure from ideality

12
Dispersion Model

• A dimensionless group D/uL, characterizes the spread. This group

can be evaluated by recording the shape of the tracer curve as it
passes the exit of the vessel using mean time and variance
13
Dispersion Model
• Dispersion can be evaluated by recording the shape of the tracer
curve as it passes the exit of the vessel using mean time and variance

14
 𝜕𝐶
Molar Flow rate of Tracer 𝐹 = −𝐷 + 𝑢𝐶 𝐴𝑐
𝜕𝑧

• Consider plug flow of a fluid, on top of which is superimposed some

degree of backmixing, the magnitude of which is independent of position
within the vessel.
• This condition implies that there exist no stagnant pockets and no gross
bypassing or short-circuiting of fluid in the vessel. This is called the
dispersed plug flow model, or simply the dispersion model
15
 Consider transient material balance for flow in PFR

F F + dF

dz
𝑑𝐶
𝐹 = 𝐶𝑣 = 𝑢𝐶𝐴𝐶 𝐹 = 𝑢𝐶𝐴𝐶 − 𝐴𝐶 𝐷𝑎
𝑑𝑧
PFR Axial Dispersion

• An unsteady state mole balance on the inert tracer

𝜕𝐶
𝐴𝑐 𝜕𝑧 = 𝑢𝐶𝐴𝑐 − 𝑢𝐶𝐴𝑐 + 𝜕 𝑢𝐶𝐴𝑐
𝜕𝑡
Accumulation In Out
16
 𝜕𝐶 𝜕𝐹
𝐴𝐶 =−
𝜕𝑡 𝜕𝑧

• If dispersion process that mix fluid elements are superimposed on the

convective flow in the axial direction (z direction), then the total flow rate

𝜕𝐶
𝐹 = −𝐷𝑎 + 𝑢𝐶 𝐴𝑐
𝜕𝑧

𝜕𝐶 𝜕2𝐶 𝜕𝐶
for constant u and Da = 𝐷𝑎 2 − 𝑢
𝜕𝑡 𝜕𝑧 𝜕𝑧

17
 • Axial dispersion processes occur by molecular diffusion during
laminar flow, so the dispersion coefficient will be same as the
molecular diffusion coefficient.
• With turbulent flow, the processes are different and Da must be
obtained from correlations.

Dimensionless form
𝜕𝐶 𝐷𝑎 𝜕 2 𝐶 𝜕𝐶 𝐷𝑎 Dispersion Number
= 2
−
𝜕𝜃 𝑢𝐿 𝜕𝑍 𝜕𝑍 𝑢𝐿

𝜕𝐶 1 𝜕 2 𝐶 𝜕𝐶 𝑃𝑒 Peclet Number
= 2
−
𝜕𝜃 𝑃𝑒 𝜕𝑍 𝜕𝑍 𝐵𝑜 Bodenstein Number
(in Reactive Systems)

𝐷𝑎 1 𝑅𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑇𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑠𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡 𝑏𝑦 𝐷𝑖𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛

= =
𝑢𝐿 𝑃𝑒 𝑅𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑇𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑠𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡 𝑏𝑦 𝐶𝑜𝑛𝑣𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛
18
For Small Deviations from PF
1 𝐷𝑎
𝐷𝑖𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑁𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 = = < 0.01
𝑃𝑒 𝑢𝐿

1 1−𝜃 2
• Solution 𝐶= 𝑒𝑥𝑝 −
2 𝜋 𝐷𝑎 /𝑢𝐿 4 𝐷𝑎 /𝑢𝐿

𝑢3 1−𝜃 2
𝐸= 𝑒𝑥𝑝 −
4𝜋𝐷𝑎 𝐿 4 𝐷𝑎 /𝑢𝐿

1 1−𝜃 2
𝐸 𝜃 = 𝜏𝐸(𝑡) = 𝑒𝑥𝑝 −
2 𝜋 𝐷𝑎 /𝑢𝐿 4 𝐷𝑎 /𝑢𝐿
19
 𝑉 𝐿
𝑡ҧ = =
𝑣 𝑢
𝐷𝑎 𝐿
𝜎2 =2
𝑢3

𝐷𝑎
𝜎𝜃2 =2
𝑢𝐿

𝐷𝑎 Negligible Dispersion
→0
𝑢𝐿 Plug Flow

𝐷𝑎 Maximum Dispersion
→∞
𝑢𝐿 Mixed Flow
20
(Da/uL) can be evaluated in many ways from an
experimental curve:
1. Calculating its variance,
2. Measuring its maximum height or its width at the
point of inflection,
3. Finding that width which includes 68% of the area

21
22
Spread of tracer as it
moves towards outlet

• For a series of vessels the t and σ2 of the individual vessels are additive

23
• For Small extent of dispersion

24
Large deviation from PF

In the closed–closed case, we do not have an analytical expression

for the E curve, but the curve can be calculated by numerical
methods and, also, we can calculate exactly its mean and variance

25
Large deviation from PF

26
For Large Departure or
deviation from PF
Dispersion No. >0.01

27
28
Limitations
• To evaluate D/uL either match the measured tracer curve or the
measured 𝜎 2 to theory. Matching 𝜎 2 is simplest
• If the flow deviates greatly from plug (D/uL large) chances are
that the real vessel doesn't meet the assumption of the model.
• Match 𝜎 2 values, but if the shape looks wrong, use some other
model

29
• For reacting flow the balance equation at steady state
𝜕 2 𝐶𝐴 𝜕𝐶𝐴 𝐷 𝜕 2 𝐶𝐴 𝜕𝐶𝐴 𝐿𝑟𝐴
𝐷 2
−𝑢 + 𝑟𝐴 = 0 2
− + =0
𝜕𝑧 𝜕𝑧 𝑢𝐿 𝜕𝑍 𝜕𝑍 𝑢
■ Consider First Order Reaction rate

𝐷 𝜕 2 𝐶𝐴 𝜕𝐶𝐴 1 𝜕 2 𝐶𝐴 𝜕𝐶𝐴
2
− − 𝜏𝑘𝐶𝐴 = 0 2
− − 𝐷𝑎𝐶𝐴 = 0
𝑢𝐿 𝜕𝑍 𝜕𝑍 𝑃𝑒 𝜕𝑍 𝜕𝑍
𝑅𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝐶𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑢𝑚𝑝𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝐴 𝑏𝑦 𝑅𝑒𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛
𝐷𝑎 = = 𝜏𝑘
𝑅𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑠𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝐴 𝑏𝑦 𝐶𝑜𝑛𝑣𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛

𝑅𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑠𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡 𝐴 𝑏𝑦 𝐶𝑜𝑛𝑣𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑢𝐿

𝑃𝑒 = =
𝑅𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑠𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝐴 𝑏𝑦 𝐷𝑖𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝐷
30
 𝐷 𝜕 2 𝑋𝐴 𝜕𝑋𝐴
2
− + 𝜏𝑘𝐶𝐴0 (1 − 𝑋𝐴 ) = 0
𝑢𝐿 𝜕𝑍 𝜕𝑍

• Solution for First order reaction for PF

For small deviations from plug flow

31
 • Compare the performance of real reactors which are close to plug flow
with plug flow reactors. Thus the size ratio needed for identical conversion
is given by
For same CA out

The exit concentration ratio

for identical reactor size is

32
Problem-1
• The first-order reaction A  B is carried out in a 10-cm-diameter
tubular reactor 6.36 m in length. The specific reaction rate is 0.25
min-1. The results of a tracer test carried out on this reactor are
shown in Table. Use Dispersion Model.

33
Problem-2
• A tubular reactor was designed in order and process feed
0.03m3/s. The reaction is a first-order irreversible isomerization
with 𝑘 = 0.39 𝑠 −1 . The reactor is 3m long, with a cross-sectional
area of 0.1m2. A tracer pulse test gave the following data: 𝑡𝑚ҧ =10
s and 𝜎2 = 64.3 s2.What conversion can be expected in the real
reactor and compare it with ideal PFR?

34