DISCUSSION

Continues Stirred Tank Reactor(CSTR) also called Mixed Flow Reactor(MFR) is, as
the name suggests, a type of reactor where the contents are uniform throughout the reactor
due to its well-stirred nature. It is real reactor designed to almost match the performance of
ideal reactor. To do that, it continuously stirs the content of the reactor, in a certain amount of
time so sample is obtained from the reactor, it can be assumed that the composition of
products in the sample is similar to the composition of product in the reactor.

Now that it`s known that CSTR thoroughly mix the contents of the reactor for a
certain period of time, one can ask a further question, does the certain period of time have an
effect on the reaction? Does varying the amount of time for the reactants to react actually
improve or worsen the efficiency of the reaction? There is the major question tried to be
answered by conducting this experiment. hence the objective is to determine the effect of
residence time to the reaction`s extent of conversion.

For the purpose of achieving that particular point, the experiment is designed to be
that two reactants which are Sodium Hydroxide, NaOH and Ethly Acetate, Et(Ac) react with
each other in the Saponification process. The reactor used is CSTR since the property that is
to be varied is from their respective feed tank, are varied. The relationship between the two
parameters is describes as:

Residence time, =

Where Vcstr refers to the volume of the reactor (in this case 10L) and Fo is the flowrate of the
feed that can be manipulated to get different residence time, . And that is exactly what was
done. The flowrate of the feed, in the experiment, was varied to be 0.2 L/min constant every
experiment. These values can be seen in table.

Now, how does this varying residence times actually effect the reaction conversion? To
answer that, a relationship between residence time and the conversion of the reactant (in this
case NaOH) has to be formed. The value of residence times is known as explained before,
and the value of conversion, X of NaOH can be determined by:

X = (1- )x 100%

Where Ca is the initial concentration of NaOH, predetermined to be 0.05 M and Cao is the
concentration of NaOH in the sample of product obtained by the process of titration. With all
the values of conversion, X is now determined for each respective residence time, this is only
logical as one can always hazard a guess that when two reactants are left to react with each
other for a longer time, they will react more as compared to when a shorter time is allowed by
this experiment, that guess is confirmed.
CONCLUSION

The experiment was conducted with several objectives in mind. The first one is to
carry out a saponification process between Sodium Hydroxide, NaOH and Ethyl Acetate,
Et(Ac). By using a Continuous Stirred Tank, CSTR these two substances were flowed into
the reactor, mixed and let to react for a certain period time. By doing that, saponification
process was completed. The experiment also targets to determine the reaction rate of this
particular reaction. This was also done by calculating the reaction rate as seen in the Sample
Calculation section. The reaction rats determined to be 0.00049 mol/L.min, 0.00072
mol/L.min, 0.00092 mol/L.min, 0.00114 mol/L.min and 0.00133 mol/L.min respectively.
Lastly, the main objective of this experiment is to study the relation between the residence
time , and the conversion of the reactant.

RECOMMENDATION

It is better to prepare the hydrochloric acid first, so that when the sample is collected,
it can be quickly quenched. This will avoid further reaction of the sample after it`s
collected.
Titration should be immediately stopped when the indicator turned light pink.
The indicator should be mixed with the acid first, then the sample.
When the sample is being collected, the first few milliliters should be thrown away,
for it is the remaining of the previous sample trapped in the pipe.
Pumps should never be run dry.