CONTINUOUS STIRRED-

TANK REACTOR
BELMONTE, CAMILA SHAINE
MONTESA, SHANIA ANGEL
 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

The Ideal Gas Company has built a

stirred-tank chemical reactor with a
paddle-type agitator. Dr. A. Quirk, head
of the Chemical Kinetic and Reactor
Design Group, is attempting to
determine why his group is unable to
duplicate results obtained earlier with a
bench-scale reactor. Some mixing tests
performed with a chemical tracer show
that circulation is set up in both the top
and bottom parts of the reactor and that
Figure 1
there is relatively little exchange of
material between the two sections, as
shown in Fig. 1.
 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

I.M. Appelpolscher, head of the Systems Group

thinks that the reactor may be inadequately
baffled. He asks you to write a set of equations
(model) that describe transient changes in the
outflow tracer concentration as a function of
inflow tracer concentration (constant volume and
no reaction), assuming that the reactor can be
modeled as two separate tanks, each perfectly
stirred, as in Fig. 2. State all additional
assumptions, identify all variables, and report to
Appelpolscher which parameter in your model
Figure 1
will have to be obtained from physical Figure 2
experiments on the full-scale reactor.
 DESIGN PROBLEM

The Ideal Gas Company has built a

stirred-tank chemical reactor with a
paddle-type agitator. Dr. A. Quirk, head
of the Chemical Kinetic and Reactor
Design Group, is attempting to
determine why his group is unable to
duplicate results obtained earlier with a
bench-scale reactor. Some mixing tests
performed with a chemical tracer show
that circulation is set up in both the top
and bottom parts of the reactor and that
Figure 1
there is relatively little exchange of
material between the two sections, as
shown in Fig. 1.
 STEP 1: OBJECTIVE

I.M. Appelpolscher, head of the Systems Group

thinks that the reactor may be inadequately
baffled. He asks you to write a set of equations
(model) that describe transient changes in the
outflow tracer concentration as a function of
inflow tracer concentration (constant volume
and no reaction), assuming that the reactor can
be modeled as two separate tanks, each
perfectly stirred, as in Fig. 2. State all additional
assumptions, identify all variables, and report to
Appelpolscher which parameters in your model
Figure 1
will have to be obtained from physical Figure 2
experiments on the full-scale reactor.
 STEP 2: SCHEMATIC DIAGRAM
𝑞𝑖 • No reaction occurs
𝑐𝑇𝑖
• 𝑎𝑐𝑐𝑢𝑚𝑢𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 = 𝑖𝑛𝑝𝑢𝑡 − 𝑜𝑢𝑡𝑝𝑢𝑡 +
𝑔𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 − 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑢𝑚𝑝𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛
𝑐𝑇1
• 𝑎𝑐𝑐𝑢𝑚𝑢𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 = 𝑖𝑛𝑝𝑢𝑡 − 𝑜𝑢𝑡𝑝𝑢𝑡 +
0−0
𝑞𝐵 𝑞𝐹
𝑐𝑇𝐵 𝑐𝑇𝐹 • 𝑎𝑐𝑐𝑢𝑚𝑢𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 = 𝑖𝑛𝑝𝑢𝑡 − 𝑜𝑢𝑡𝑝𝑢𝑡

𝑐𝑇2

𝑞
𝑐𝑇
 STEP 3: ASSUMPTION
𝑞𝑖 • Let:
𝑐𝑇𝑖 𝑉1
𝛾1 =
𝑉
𝛾1 𝑉 𝑉2
𝛾2 =
𝑐𝑇1 𝑉
𝑉1 + 𝑉2 = 𝑉
𝑞𝐵 𝑞𝐹 𝛾1 𝑉 + 𝛾2 𝑉 = 𝑉
𝑐𝑇𝐵 𝑐𝑇𝐹

𝛾2 𝑉 • Simplifying assumption: 𝛾1 and 𝛾2

𝑐𝑇2 are constant
𝛾1 + 𝛾2 = 1 (𝑒𝑞 1)
𝑞
𝑐𝑇
 STEP 4: SPATIAL VARIATIONS
𝑞𝑖 • No spatial variations
𝑐𝑇𝑖

𝛾1 𝑉
𝑐𝑇1
𝑞𝐵 𝑞𝐹
𝑐𝑇𝐵 𝑐𝑇𝐹

𝛾2 𝑉
𝑐𝑇2

𝑞
𝑐𝑇
 STEP 5: CONSERVATION EQUATIONS
𝑞𝑖 • Overall Material Balance at Tank 1
𝑐𝑇𝑖 𝑞𝑖 + 𝑞𝐵 = 𝑞𝐹 (𝑒𝑞 2)

𝛾1 𝑉
𝑐𝑇1 • Tracer Balance at Tank 1
𝑑 𝛾1 𝑉𝑐𝑇1
𝑞𝐵 𝑞𝐹 = 𝑞𝑖 𝑐𝑇𝑖 + 𝑞𝐵 𝑐𝑇𝐵 − 𝑞𝐹 𝑐𝑇𝐹 (𝑒𝑞 3)
𝑑𝑡
𝑐𝑇𝐵 𝑐𝑇𝐹

𝛾2 𝑉 • Tracer Balance at Tank 2

𝑐𝑇2 𝑑 𝛾2 𝑉𝑐𝑇2
= 𝑞𝐹 𝑐𝑇𝐹 − 𝑞𝐵 𝑐𝑇𝐵 − 𝑞𝑐𝑇 (𝑒𝑞 4)
𝑞 𝑑𝑡
𝑐𝑇
 STEP 6: EQUILIBRIUM/ALGEBRAIC EQUATIONS
𝑞𝑖 • V is constant
𝑐𝑇𝑖 𝑞𝑖 = 𝑞 (𝑒𝑞 5)

𝛾1 𝑉
𝑐𝑇1 • Perfect mixing in each tank
𝑐𝑇1 = 𝑐𝑇𝐹 (𝑒𝑞 6)
𝑞𝐵 𝑞𝐹 𝑐𝑇2 = 𝑐𝑇 (𝑒𝑞 7)
𝑐𝑇𝐵 𝑐𝑇𝐹 𝑐𝑇𝐵 = 𝑐𝑇 (𝑒𝑞 8)
𝛾2 𝑉
𝑐𝑇2

𝑞
𝑐𝑇
 STEP 8: SIMPLIFY
• Equation 5 to Equation 2
𝑞𝑖 + 𝑞𝐵 = 𝑞𝐹 𝑒𝑞 2
𝑞 + 𝑞𝐵 = 𝑞𝐹 (𝑒𝑞 8)

• Equations 5, 7, 8 and 6 to Equation 3

𝑑 𝛾1 𝑉𝑐𝑇1
= 𝑞𝑖 𝑐𝑇𝑖 + 𝑞𝐵 𝑐𝑇𝐵 − 𝑞𝐹 𝑐𝑇𝐹 (𝑒𝑞 3)
𝑑𝑡
𝑑 𝑐𝑇1
𝛾1 𝑉 = 𝑞𝑐𝑇𝑖 + 𝑞𝐵 𝑐𝑇 − 𝑞 + 𝑞𝐵 𝑐𝑇1 (𝑒𝑞 9)
𝑑𝑡
 STEP 8: SIMPLIFY
• Equations 7, 2, 6 and 7 to Equation 4
𝑑 𝛾2 𝑉𝑐𝑇2
= 𝑞𝐹 𝑐𝑇𝐹 − 𝑞𝐵 𝑐𝑇𝐵 − 𝑞𝑐𝑇 (𝑒𝑞 4)
𝑑𝑡
𝑑 𝑐𝑇
𝛾2 𝑉 = 𝑞 + 𝑞𝐵 𝑐𝑇1 − 𝑞𝐵 𝑐𝑇 − 𝑞𝑐𝑇
𝑑𝑡
𝑑 𝑐𝑇
1 − 𝛾1 𝑉 = 𝑞 + 𝑞𝐵 𝑐𝑇1 − 𝑞𝐵 + 𝑞 𝑐𝑇
𝑑𝑡
𝑑 𝑐𝑇
1 − 𝛾1 𝑉 = 𝑞 + 𝑞𝐵 𝑐𝑇1 − 𝑐𝑇 (𝑒𝑞 10)
𝑑𝑡
 PROCESS MODEL
𝑞𝑖 • Equation for Tank 1 (Eq. 9)
𝑐𝑇𝑖 𝑑 𝑐𝑇1
𝜸𝟏 𝑽 = 𝒒𝒄𝑻𝒊 + 𝒒𝑩 𝑐𝑇 − 𝒒 + 𝒒𝑩 𝑐𝑇1
𝑑𝑡
𝛾1 𝑉
𝑐𝑇1
• Equation for Tank 2 (Eq. 10)
𝑞𝐵 𝑞𝐹 𝑑 𝑐𝑇
𝑐𝑇𝐵 𝑐𝑇𝐹 1 − 𝜸𝟏 𝑽 = 𝒒 + 𝒒𝑩 𝑐𝑇1 − 𝑐𝑇
𝑑𝑡
𝛾2 𝑉
𝑐𝑇2 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒:
𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒂𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒔
𝑞 𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒃𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒗𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆𝒔
𝑐𝑇 𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒊𝒑𝒖𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒗𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆𝒔