UNIVERSITI MALAYSIA PAHANG

BKF 2453-Chemical Reaction Engineering 1

Assignment 1 (Chapter 1, 2, 3 & 4)

1. The gas-phase reaction and its rate law are as follows,

2 A  3B 
k or k '
 2C  4 D rC  kC C ACB0.5 or rC  kC C ACB0.5

is carried out in two isothermal reactors: plug flow reactor (PFR – no catalyst) and packed bed
reactor (PBR) to achieve 95% conversion. The reactants A and B are mixed in a feed at the molar
ratio of 1:2 without inert gas. The feed enters PFR at 3 L s-1 and enters PBR at 3 atm. The reaction
temperature is 300 oC. Design and evaluate the reactors. Additional information:

Superficial mass velocity, G = 2 kg m-2s-1

Reactant density at inlet condition, ρ0 = 2.5 kg m-3
Solid catalyst density, ρc = 2000 kg m-3
Internal diameter of the PBR, D = 0.07 m
Diameter of the catalyst particle, Dp = 0.006 m
The void fraction in the bed, φ = 0.5
Specific rate constant for non-catalytic reaction, kC = 10-2 L0.5 mol-0.5 s-1
Specific rate constant for catalytic reaction, k’C = 0.16 m3 kgcat-1 s-1
Viscosity,  = 2  10-5 kg m-2 s-1

Assume the reacting gas is ideal

(20 marks)

2. By using Polymath try to estimate the time to achieve 99% of steady state concentration of A in a
a 10-L semi batch reactor that runs the elementary liquid phase reaction as follows
A  B 
k
 2C

where NA0 = I0 mol readily loaded to the tank and B is continuously feed to the reactor at CB0 = 0.1
mol L-1 and B0 = 1 L min-1. The specific rate constant is 0.1 L mol-1 min-1.

(10 marks)