CH3010 CRE-I.

Total Marks: 100 End semester Exam 24/11/10

Roll No: Name:
Tie the question paper to the answer sheets and return. Answer sheets without the question paper will
NOT be evaluated. Write the steps and answers in the answer sheet.

1. (5 marks) The following data are available for a reaction. Determine the activation energy and the pre
exponent for the rate constant, assuming Arrhenius temperature dependency.

Temp (K) 458 314

Rate Const (s-1) 5.02 x 10-3 4.81 x 10-6

2. (10 marks) For the reaction AB, the concentrations of A at three different times are given below.
Determine the order and rate constant of the reaction using differential method.
Time(min) Conc (mol/lit)
0 28.82
5 25.9
10 23.03

3. (15 marks) A liquid phase first order reaction A B is carried out in a batch reactor of 200 lit size, at
70˚C. The rate constant at the operating conditions is 0.003 min-1. Initially, the reactor is charged with 28
moles of pure A. Determine the time necessary to obtain a conversion of 48%

4. (20 marks) Consider the liquid phase reaction A B occurring in an adiabatically operated CSTR.
The molar flow rate of A in feed is 19.3 kg mol-h-1 and molar flow rate of inert is 30 kgmol-h-1. The
specific heat capacity of A and B are the same, viz. 142.4 J/gmol/K. The specific heat capacity of inert is
70.3 J/gmol/K. The heat of reaction at 20 oC is -80234 J/gmol A reacted. The feed temperature is 32 oC.
Volumetric flow rate of A is 1,302 lit/h and volumetric flow rate of inert is 1,417 lit/h. The rate constant
9054
is given by k  1.292 x 10 e 8 T
h1 , where T is in K. Determine the volume of reactor needed to
obtain a conversion of 0.5.

5. (25 marks) Repeat the above problem if the reaction is to be conducted in a PFR instead of a CSTR,
with everything else remaining the same. What is the volume of PFR needed to obtain the same
b
conversion? (Hint: Any numerical integration needed such as  f ( x) dx may
a
be performed by

incrementing x in steps of 0.1)

6. (15 marks) Consider the start up of a constant volume CSTR of 4800 lit volume. The reaction is
conducted in liquid phase at isothermal conditions. Pure A is fed to the reactor at a flow rate of 1.3 lit/s.
The concentration of A in the feed is 1.04 mol/lit. The reaction rate constant is 1.5 x 10-4 s-1. Determine
the steady state concentration and the time it takes for the product stream concentration to be within 5.4 %
of the final steady state concentration.

7. (10 marks) A chemical X is to be converted to Y in a reactor. In addition to this reaction, a side

reaction X Z also occurs and Z is not a desired product. X  Y is a first order reaction and XZ is a
second order reaction. The activation energy of the reaction X Y is 56 kJ/mol-A while that of X Z is
85 kJ/mol-A. What type of continuous reactor and operating conditions should be used to maximize the
production of Y while minimizing the production of Z?