Homework Set 3: Chemical Reaction Engineering,

CHE 625: Problem 1,2

Bankole Temitayo S. [80034560]
April 24, 2015

Problem 1
a)

1.1

Material balance

1.1.1

Inert

For the solid phase material balance, we have the following:

00
00 [A]



00

00 2 [A]
= Dtot,eff 00 2 00 r
+ rv00
r00
r r
1

(1)

For an inert solid material, the reaction term vanishes and at steady state, equation (1)
becomes:

r00 Dtot,eff

[A]00 =

[A]00
= c0
r00

c0
+ c1
Dtot,eff r00

(2)

(3)

Where c0 and c1 are constants of integration. With the following boundary conditions:
BC1 : r00 = R00 ;
BC2 : r00 = 0;

[A]00 = [A]00s
[A]00
=0
r00

(4)

Second BC leads to c0 = 0 and first BC leads to [A]00 = [A]s , Thus

[A]00 = [A]s
1.1.2

0 r00 R00

(5)

With an effectiveness factor 1, we have that Dtot,eff  k

equation (1) becomes:


00
1
2 [A]
Dtot,eff 00 2 00 r00
=0
r00
r r

(6)

The reaction term can be neglected, thus leading to equation (2), thus solving equation (6)
with boundary conditions as in equation (4) yields the equation (5) as before.

1.2
1.2.1

kA0
1

The reaction takes place in the solid phase and is given by

rA = k 00 [A]ns

(7)

This reaction is per unit solid volume, thus in order to obtain the reaction rate per unit
reactor volume, we multiply by 1 0
Given the rate expressed as:
 n
0
0
A
R
(A0 , T0 ) = kA
(T ) A0

(8)

Thus
0 0
kA
(T )

00

= (1  )

Sg00 ks00 (Tin ) exp

EA

1
1
0
T0
Tin


(9)

In the above equations, we have assumed that = 1.

1.2.2

Inert

For an inert, the reaction takes place in the fluid phase thus the rate of reaction is given
by:
 n
rA = k 0 A
(10)
In order to obtain the reaction rate per unit volume of the reactor, we multiply by a factor
of 0 to obtain:

 n
0
A
R
(A0 , T0 ) = k 0 A 0
Therefore given the rate expressed as:
 
0 (A0 , T0 ) = k 0 (T) A0 n
R
A
A

(11)

(12)

We define
0
kA




EA 1
1

= k (Tin ) exp
0
0
R T0
Tin
0

(13)

Where k 0 is the intrinsic reaction rate constant for the liquid phase.

1.3

HA

Given the reaction A Products

The heat of reaction is given per mole of A reacted per unit volume of reaction phase, in
order to obtain the heat of reaction per unit volume of reactor, we multiply by (1 0 ) for
the case of an inert and 0 for the case of a catalyst whose effectiveness 1 , thus we have:

1.3.1

Inert
HA = H0

(14)

1.3.2

1
HA = H(1 0 )

(15)

b) Given the general material balance for the fluid phase as:
[A]

D [A]

+ ~u [A]
=
+ rv
t

(16)

Neglecting diffusion and at steady state, equation (16) reduces to:

[A]
+ rv = 0]
z
Let y = [A0 ]/[A]0in and z = z/L;
uz

(17)

L
dy
+
rv = 0

dz
[A]in uz
Given rv = k[A0 ]n



L
EA
Tin
dy
n
+
k(T
)y
exp

1
=0
in
dz
RTin0
T
[A]1n
in uz

(18)

Rearranging equation(18), we obtain:

dy
= NDa y n exp [ (1 (1/))]
dz
Given the general energy balance for the fluid phase as:


T

k T T
+Q
Cp
+ ~u T
=
t

(19)

(20)

Neglecting conduction and at steady state, equation (20) reduces to:

Cp uz

2 0
dT0
0
A
+ (H)(R
(A0 , T0 )) + 0 U
(T Tw ) = 0
dz
R

Let = [T0 ]/[T ]0in and z = z/L;

Given rv = k[A0 ]n , we have:

(21)




d
H[A0in ]n
EA
Tin
2L
n
( w )
=

Lk(T
)y
exp

U
in

dz
Cp Tin uz
RTin0
T
Cp uz R0
Rearranging and grouping terms, we have:
d
= NDa y n exp [ (1 (1/))] NHT U ( w )
dz

(22)

In equations (19) and (22), the grouped terms are defined as:
0
NDa = LkA
(Tin )[Ain ]n1 /uz

= EA / (RTin )
=

[A0in ](H)
Cp Tin

NHTU =

2L
Cp uz R0

where R: gas constant, R0 : reactor radius.

(23)

c) For an adiabatic reactor, no cooling occurs therefore, equations (19) and (22) reduce to :
dy
= NDa y n exp [ (1 (1/))]
dz
d
= NDa y n exp [ (1 (1/))]
dz

(24)

Dividing to eliminate the z dependence, we obtain:

1
dy
=
d

(25)

This is integrated to give:

+ y = C

(26)

at the inlet, both and y equal 1, therefore

1+ =C

(27)

This gives:
= 1 + (1 y)

(28)

Substituting equation (28) into equation (19),

dz
1
=
dy
NDa y n exp [ (1 (1/1 + (1 y)))]

(29)

Rearranging the equation above gives:



Z 1
(1 y)
1 n
y exp
dy
z =
1 + (1 y)
y NDa

(30)

d) The following are obtained from the data provided:

0
(Tin )[Ain ]n1 /uz = 2 2/3 = 1.33
NDa = LkA

1
= EA / (RTin ) = 50 1.987 103 700
= 35.94

1.4

1.4

1.2

1.35

1.3

0.8

1.25

0.6

1.2

0.4

1.15

0.2

1.1

1.05

0.2

1
0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

0.9

Figure 1: Plot of concentration (solid) & Temperature(dash dot) over the length of the reactor

= [A0in ](H)/ (Cp Tin )

= 0.03 10 1000/ (1.2 1 700)

= 0.357

Solving equation (19) and using the relation as in equation (28) with the above constants
yield figure (1).
Outlet Conditions
yout = 0, out = 1.3571
Thus: Outlet concentration = 0; Outlet temperature = 1.357 700 = 950K

Problem 2

With the relaxation of the temperature dependence of the rate constant, the exponential terms
in equations (19) and (22) reduce to unity thus we have the following ;
dy
= NDa y n
dz
d
= NDa y n NHTU ( w )
dz

(31)

Integrating equation (31) gives:

y = exp(NDa z )
= e(NHTU z




NDa
e(NDa z ) e(NHTU z ) + w (1 eNHTU z )
NHTU NDa

(32)

The number of transfer units was calculated as:

NHTU =

2L
1
= (2 70 2) (0.1 1.2 1.3 1000) = 1.795
Cp uz R0

(33)

solving equation (31) gives: We find the magnitude and location of the hot spot to be
zhot spot = 57cm from inlet
Thot spot = 775.2K

1.2

1.4
1
y

1.2

0.6
0.5

0.8

0.4

0.2

0.8

0.2
0
0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

0.9

Figure 2: Plot of concentration (solid) & Temperature(dash dot) over the length of the reactor