ChE 321 Washington State University

Kinetics and Reactor Design Department of Chemical Engineering

Spring, 2001 Richard L. Zollars

Exam #1

You will have one hour (60 minutes) to complete this exam which consists of four (4)
problems. You may use any books, notes, etc. that you have brought with you.
Remember that the majority of the points on any problem will be given for clearly
demonstrating that you know how to solve the problem. Thus, it is not necessary to
complete all of the math necessary to reach a final numerical answer to receive most of
the points for any problem. Make sure that you have completed each problem to the
point where only calculations remain before taking the time to finish the calculations on
any problem. Each problem statement may also contain information that is not necessary
for the solution of the problem.
1) (15 pts) You are operating an isothermal CSTR in which the reaction

A B

occurs. The feed to the reactor consists of only A at a rate of 10 mole/min. The
concentration A in the feed stream is 2 mole/liter. At the temperature inside the
reactor the reaction rate constant is 2 liter/moleAmin. The reaction is second order
in A. You want to produce B at a rate of 7 mole/min. How large should the
reactor be to accomplish this task?

SOLUTION

For a CSTR operating at steady-state the material balance is given by

0 = FA,in FA, out + rA,out V = FA, in FA,out kCA2, out V

There is no change in the number of moles so whether this is a gas phase of liquid
phase reaction we can assume that there is no volume change on reaction. Thus

FA, out vC A,out C A, out

= =
FA,in vC A, in C A,in

From the stoichiometry of the reaction

FB ,out = FB ,in + (FA,in FA, out )

7 mole / min = 0 + (10 mole / min FA,out )
FA,out = 3 mole / min

This gives

C A,out 3 mole / min

=
2 mole / liter 10 mole / min
C A, out = 0.6 mole / liter

Substituting all of these values and the given value for the rate constant into the
material balance gives

0 = 10 mole / min 3 mole / min 2 liter / mole min (0.6 mole / liter ) V
2

Solve this for V to get

 10 mole / min 3 mole / min
V= = 9.72 liter
2 liter / mole min (0.6 mole / liter )
2
2) (25 pts) The gas phase reaction

A + 2B C + D

takes place inside an isothermal PFR. The reaction rate expression for this
reaction is

r A = k C A C B

where the rate constant has a value of 100 liter/moleAmin at the temperature inside
the reactor. The feed to the reactor consists of 1 mole/min of A and 2 mole/min
of B. If the reactor operates at 1 atm and 100C (R = 0.082 literAatm/moleAK) and
has a volume of 400 liter, what is the molar flow rate of A leaving the reactor?

SOLUTION

For an isothermal PFR we need only solve the material balance

d FA
= rA = k C AC B
dV

Since the reaction is gas phase we can replace the concentration terms with mole
fractions to get

2
d FA P
= rA = k y A y B CT2 = k y A y B
dV RT

Now use the stoichiometry to relate the mole fractions of the molar flow rates

Specie Molar Flow Rate

A FA
B FBo 2(FAo FA)
C FAo FA
D FAo FA
Total FBo + FA

We are also given that FBo = 2 FAo. Thus the mole fractions for A and B become

FA
yA =
2 FAo + FA
FB F 2 (FAo FA ) 2 FAo 2 (FAo FA ) 2 FA
yB = = Bo = =
2 FAo + FA 2 FAo + FA 2 FAo + FA 2 FAo + FA

Substituting this into the material balance gives

 2
d FA FA 2 FA P
= k
dV 2 FAo + FA 2 FAo + FA RT

The variables can be separated to give

2 FAo + FA 2 FAo + FA
2
P
d FA = k dV
FA 2 FA RT
The left hand side of this can be simplified then integrated to give

FA
FAo
2
FAo 1 V
P
2

2 FA2 + 2 FA + 2 d FA = 0 k RT dV

FAo

1 1 FA 1 P
2

2 F + 2 ln F + 2 ( FA FAo ) = kV RT

2
Ao
FA FAo Ao

Substituting the values we know gives

2
1 1 F 1
+ 2 ln A + ( FA 1) = 100( 400)
1
2 (1)
FA 1 1 2 0.082(373)
1
1 + 2 ln ( FA ) + (FA 1) = 42.76
1
2
FA 2

Solve this equation for FA to get FA = 0.052 mole/min.

3) (30 pts) You are using a semi-batch reactor (one inlet stream, no outlet streams)
to process a stream containing a reactive component A. The reaction rate of A is first
order in A with a rate constant of 0.1 min-1 . The reaction occurs in the liquid phase
with no change in volume on reaction. The initial volume of the reacting mixture in
the reactor is 100 liter with a concentration of A of 0.1 mole/liter. At some time t = 0,
the reaction is initiated and a feed of 2 moles A/min is started. The concentration of
A in the feed stream is also 0.1 mole/liter. After 10 minutes, what is the
concentration of A inside the reactor?

SOLUTION

Since no thermal property data is given well assume the reactor is isothermal. The
material balance for a semi-batch reactor with a fed but no outflow is

d nA n
= FA, in r A V = FA, in kCA V = FA,in k A V = FA, in k n A
dt V

The two variables (na and t) can be separated to give

d nA
+ k n A = FA,in
dt

Using the integrating factor ekt gives

d nA
e kt + k e kt n A = FA, in e kt
dt
d kt
dt
( )
e n A = FA,in e kt

Integrating gives

1
e kt n A = FA,in e kt + C
k

or

FA, in
nA = + C e kt
k

To evaluate the constant C we know that at time t = 0, nA = nAo so

FA, in
n Ao = +C
k
Thus

FA,in
C = n Ao
k

From the data given nAo = CAoV = 0.1 mole/liter(100 liter) = 10 mole. Thus at 10
minutes the material balance gives

FA, in FA,in kt 2 2 0.1(10)

nA = + n Ao e = + 10 e = 20 10 e 1 = 16.32 mole
k k 0.1 0.1

To determine the concentration of A we will also need the volume in the reactor. We
are told that the feed rate is 2 mole/min with a concentration of 0.1 mole/liter so

FA, in 2
v= = = 20 liter / min
C A,in 0 .1

Thus the volume after 10 minutes is

V = Vo + vt = 100 + 20(10) = 300 liter

The concentration of A in the reactor is thus

n A 16.32
CA = = = 0.0544 mole / liter
V 300
 4) (30 pts) You are conducting the liquid phase reaction

A B

in a CSTR operating at steady state. The reaction is second order with respect to
A (rA = - kCA2 ) with a rate constant given by

7500
k = 2.4 10 exp
11

where the rate constant has units of liter/moleAmin and the temperature is in K.
The stream you are working with enters the CSTR at a molar flow rate of
5 mole/min, a volumetric flow rate of 10 liter/min and a temperature of 20C
(293 K). Using the data below (if needed) determine the size of the reactor
needed to react 90% of the A as well as the temperature inside the reactor.

Additional Data

H r (298 K ) = 20,000 cal / mole

C pA = 20 cal / mole o C
C pB = 15 cal / mole C
o

UA = 3200 cal / min o C

Thx = 20o C

SOLUTION

For this problem we will need to solve both the material and energy balances for a CSTR.
The two equations are

Material Balance:

FA,in FA, out + r A, out V = 0 = FA, in FA, out kC 2A, out V

Energy Balance:

F FA,in Toutlet

U ATln mean = H r (at Toutlet ) A, out + Fi,inlet C pi dT

A i Tinlet

where the form of the energy balance using the inlet molar flow rates has been selected to
simplify the calculations. We are given that FAin = 5 mole/min and that FAout = 0.1*FAin =
0.5 mole/min. Since the reaction is liquid phase we will assume no volume change on
reaction so CAout = 0.1*CAin = 0.1*F Ain /v = 0.1*(5/10) = 0.05 mole/liter. We also need to
determine )Hr (at T). This is given by
 T T
H r (T ) = H r (298) + i C pi dT = 20000 + ( 20 + 15) dT
298 i 298

= 20000 5 (T 298 ) = 18510 5T

The energy balance now is given by

0 .5 5 .0
3200 (293 T ) = ( 18510 5T ) + 5( 20)(T 293)
1

The outlet temperature (T) is the only unknown in this equation so solve it to find
T = 320.4 K. Now that we know the temperature we can compute the rate constant

7500 7500
k = 2.4 10 exp = 2.4 10 exp = 16.40 liter / mole min
11 11

T 320.4

Substituting the known values into the material balance gives

0 = 5 0.5 16.40 (0.05 ) V

2

Solving for V yields

5 0.5
V= = 109.8 liter
16.40 (0.05 )
2