Reactors

The reactors, in which chemicals are made in industry, vary in size from a few cm 3 to the
vast structures that are often depicted in photographs of industrial plants. For example, kilns
that produce lime from limestone may be over 25 meters high and hold, at any one time, well
over 400 tonnes of materials.

The design of the reactor is determined by many factors but of particular importance are
the thermodynamics and kinetics of the chemical reactions being carried out. The two main
types of reactor are termed batch and continuous.

Types of Reactor

1. Batch Reactor
The simplest type of reactor is a batch reactor. Materials are charged in a batch reactor,
and the reaction proceeds with time. A batch reactor does not reach a steady state, and control
of temperature, pressure and volume is necessary. Thus, a batch reactor has ports for sensors
and material input and output. Batch reactors are used in small-scale production and reactions
with biological materials, such as in brewing, pulping and production of enzymes.
A batch reactor is used for small-scale operation, for testing new processes that have
not been fully developed, for the manufacture of expensive products, and for processes that are
difficult to convert to continuous operations. The reactor can be charged (i.e., filled) through the
holes at the top. In addition, batch reactors are usually used when a company wants to produce
a range of products involving different reactants and reactor conditions. They can then use the
same equipment for these reactions. Examples of processes that use batch reactors include the
manufacture of colorants and margarine. It is also commonly used in steel, stainless steel, glass
or exotic alloy production.

Figure 1. Batch Reactor

Advantages

 High conversions can be obtained by leaving reactants in reactor for extended periods of
time.
 Batch reactor jackets allow the system to change heating or cooling power at constant
jacket heat flux.
 Versatile, can be used to make many products consecutively.
 Good for producing small amounts of products while still in testing phase.
 Easy to clean.

Disadvantages

 High cost of labor per unit of production.

 Difficult to maintain large scale production.
 Long downtime for cleaning leads to periods of no production.

2. Mixed Flow Reactor

A mixed flow reactor is often modeled by a beaker wither a single large impeller. In this
ideal example, a tracer added to the inlet is immediately dispersed evenly throughout the
reactor. The tracer will appear in the effluent as the tracer/volume concentrations. It is often
used in systems with influent variation and toxicity/inhibition issues caused by high
concentrations of the inhibitory compounds. The immediate dispersal/dilution allows for
microbial activity to commence as the inhibitory concentration levels are avoided.

In a mixed flow reactor, composition throughout the reactor will be the same and all
calculation will be done on output composition. The concentration of the reactant drops to a low
value at a time. MFRs usually are equipped with an agitating device
(stirrer, agitator) for mixing the reactants.

CSTR (Continuous-Stirred Tank Reactors)

A type of reactor used commonly in industrial processing is the stirred tank operated
continuously. It is referred to as the continuous-stirred tank reactor (CSTR) or vat, or backmix
reactor, and is used primarily for liquid phase reactions. It is normally operated at steady
state and is assumed to be perfectly mixed; consequently, there is no time dependence or
position dependence of the temperature, concentration, or reaction rate inside the CSTR. That
is, every variable is the same at every point inside the reactor. Because the temperature and
concentration are identical everywhere within the reaction vessel, they are the same at the exit
point as they are elsewhere in the tank. Thus, the temperature and concentration in the exit
stream are modeled as being the same as those inside the reactor.

In a CSTR, one or more reactants, for example in solution or as a slurry, are introduced
into a reactor equipped with an impeller (stirrer) and the products are removed continuously.
The impeller stirs the reagents vigorously to ensure good mixing so that there is a uniform
composition throughout. The composition at the outlet is the same as in the bulk in the reactor.
These are exactly the opposite conditions to those in a tubular flow reactor where there is
virtually no mixing of the reactants and the products.

A CSTR reactor is used, for example in the production of the amide intermediate formed
in the process to produce methyl 2-methylpropenoate. Sulfuric acid and 2-hydroxy-2-
methylpropanonitrile are fed into the tank at a temperature of 400 K. The heat generated by the
reaction is removed by cooling water fed through coils and the residence time is about 15
minutes.

Figure 2. Continuous-Stirred Tank Reactor

Continuous-Flow Stirred-Tank Reactor

In a continuous-flow stirred-tank reactor, reactants and products are continuously added

and withdrawn. In practice, mechanical or hydraulic agitation is required to achieve uniform
composition and temperature, a choice strongly influenced by process considerations. The
CSTR is the idealized opposite of the well-stirred batch and tubular plug-flow reactors. Analysis
of selected combinations of these reactor types can be useful in quantitatively evaluating more
complex gas-, liquid-, and solid-flow behaviors.

Figure 3. Continuous stirred tank reactors, (a) With agitator and internal heat transfer surface,
(b) With pump around mixing and external heat transfer surface

Continuous-flow stirred-tank reactors in series are simpler and easier to design for
isothermal operation than are tubular reactors. Reactions with narrow operating temperature
ranges or those requiring close control of reactant concentrations for optimum selectivity benefit
from series arrangements. If severe heat-transfer requirements are imposed, heating or cooling
zones can be incorporated within or external to the CSTR. For example, impellers or centrally
mounted draft tubes circulate liquid upward, then downward through vertical heat-exchanger
tubes. In a similar fashion, reactor contents can be recycled through external heat exchangers.

Continuous flow stirred-tank reactors are usually applied in waste water treatment
processes. CSTRs facilitate rapid dilution rates which make them resistant to both high pH and
low pH volatile fatty acid wastes. CSTRs are less efficient compared to other types of reactors
as they require larger reactor volumes to achieve the same reaction rate as other reactor
models such as Plug Flow Reactors.

3. Plug Flow Reactor

Another type of reactor commonly used in industry is the plug flow reactor. The plug flow
reactor model (PFR, sometimes called continuous tubular reactor, CTR, or piston flow reactors)
is a model used to describe chemical reactions in continuous, flowing systems of cylindrical
geometry.

In the plug flow reactor, the reactants are continually consumed as they flow down the
length of the reactor. Fluids (gases and/or liquids) flow through it at high velocities. As the
reactants flow, for example along a heated pipe, they are converted to products. At these high
velocities, the products are unable to diffuse back and there is little or no back mixing. The
conditions are referred to as plug flow. This reduces the occurrence of side reactions and
increases the yield of the desired product.

With a constant flow rate, the conditions at any one point remain constant with time and
changes in time of the reaction are measured in terms of the position along the length of the
tube. The reaction rate is faster at the pipe inlet because the concentration of reactants is at its
highest and the reaction rate reduces as the reactants flow through the pipe due to the
decrease in concentration of the reactant.

Plug flow reactors are used for some of the following applications:

 Large-scale production
 fast reactions
 Homogeneous or heterogeneous reactions
 Continuous production
 High-temperature reactions

Figure 4. Plug Flow Reactor

 4. Packed Bed Reactor

Packed bed reactors are very versatile and are used in many chemical processing
applications such as absorption, distillation, stripping, separation processes, and catalytic
reactions. Across the diverse applications in which they are used, the physical dimensions of
the beds can vary greatly. Typical reactors consist of a chamber, such as a tube or channel
that contains catalyst particles or pellets, and a liquid that flows through the catalyst. The
liquid interacts with the catalyst across the length of the tube, altering the chemical
composition of the substance.

The schematic below shows a simplified design of a typical packed bed reactor:

Figure 5. Packed Bed Reactor

Advantages

 High conversion rate per weight of catalyst.

 Easy to build.
 More contact between reactant and catalyst than in other types of reactors.
 More product is formed due to increased reactant/catalyst contact.
 Low cost of construction, operation, and maintenance.
 Effective at high temperatures and pressures.

Disadvantages

 Difficult temperature control.

 Temperature gradients may occur.
 Catalyst difficult to replace.
 Channeling of gas stream can occur, leading to ineffective regions in the reactor.
 Side reactions possible.
 Heat transfer to or from reactor can be difficult.
Fixed Bed Reactor

A fixed bed reactor is a cylindrical tube filled with catalyst pellets with reactants flowing
through the bed and being converted into products. The catalyst may have multiple
configuration including: one large bed, several horizontal beds, several parallel packed tubes,
multiple beds in their own shells.

In a fixed-bed reactor the catalyst pellets are held in place and do not move with respect
to a fixed reference frame. Material and energy balances are required for both the fluid, which
occupies the interstitial region between catalyst particles, and the catalyst particles, in which the
reactions occur.

A heterogeneous catalyst is used frequently in industry where gases flow through a solid
catalyst (which is often in the form of small pellets to increase the surface area). It is often
described as a fixed bed of catalyst. Among the examples of their use are the manufacture of
sulfuric acid (the Contact Process, with vanadium(V) oxide as catalyst), the manufacture of nitric
acid and the manufacture of ammonia (the Haber Process, with iron as the catalyst).

Figure 6. Fixed Bed Reactor

A further example of a fixed bed reactor is in catalytic reforming of naphtha to produce

branched chain alkanes, cycloalkanes and aromatic hydrocarbons using usually platinum or a
platinum-rhenium alloy on an alumina support.

Fluidized Bed Reactor

A fluidized bed reactor (FBR) is a type of reactor device that can be used to carry out a
variety of multiphase chemical reactions. In this type of reactor, a fluid (gas or liquid) is passed
through a solid granular material (usually a catalyst possibly shaped as tiny spheres) at high
enough velocities to suspend the solid and cause it to behave as though it were a fluid. This
process, known as fluidization, imparts many important advantages to the FBR. As a result, the
fluidized bed reactor is now used in many industrial applications.

Fluidized bed reactors are heterogeneous catalytic reactors in which the mass of
catalyst is fluidized. This allows for extensive mixing in all directions. A result of the mixing is
excellent temperature stability and increased mass-transfer and reaction rates. Fluidized bed
reactors are capable of handling large amounts of feed and catalyst.

A fluid bed reactor is sometimes used whereby the catalyst particles, which are very fine,
sit on a distributor plate. When the gaseous reactants pass through the distributor plate, the
particles are carried with the gases forming a fluid. This ensures very good mixing of the
reactants with the catalyst, with very high contact between the gaseous molecules and the
catalyst and a good heat transfer. This results in a rapid reaction and a uniform mixture,
reducing the variability of the process conditions.

One example of the use of fluid bed reactors is in the oxychlorination of ethene to
chloroethene (vinyl chloride), the feedstock for the polymer poly(chloroethene) (PVC). The
catalyst is copper(II) chloride and potassium chloride deposited on the surface of alumina. This
support is so fine, it acts as a fluid when gases pass through it.

Figure 7. A diagram to illustrate a fluid bed reactor. On the left

hand side, the particles are at rest. On the right hand side, the
particles are now acting as a fluid, as the gaseous reactants pass
through the solid.