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INTRODUCTION

Reactor is one of the most important parts in industrial sector. Reactor is equipment
that changes the raw material to the product that we want. A good reactor will give a high
production and economical. One of criteria to choose or to design a good reactor is to know
the effectiveness of the reactor itself. There a many types of reactor depending on the nature
of the feed materials and products. One of the most important variables that we need to know
in the various chemical reactions was the rate of the reaction.
There are three types of commonly used continuous flow reactors in industrial that are
continuous stirred tank reactor (CSTR), plug flow reactor (PFR) and packed bed reactor
(PBR). A Stirred Tank Reactor or also known as STR operates at steady state by feeding the
reactants into the reactor and continuously withdrawing the products. Ideally, a STR is
perfectly well-mixed and has no spatial variation in concentration or temperature. Since
concentration and temperature are identical at all points in the reactor, they are also the same
at the point of discharge from the tank. Other advantages are a wide temperature and pressure
range and the ability to control temperature. A disadvantage of the STR is that the conversion
of reactants per volume of the reactor is the smallest among the flow reactors for most
reactions.
A stirred tank reactor (STR) may be operated either as a batch reactor or as a steady
state flow reactor (CSTR). A CSTR or vat, or backmix reactor is used primarily for liquid
phase reactions. The key or main feature of this reactor is that mixing is complete so that
properties such as temperature and concentration of the reaction mixture are uniform in all
parts of the vessel. Because the temperature and concentration are identical everywhere
within the reaction vessel, they are the same at exit point as they are elsewhere in the tank.
Material balance of a general chemical reaction described as below. The conservation
principle requires that the mass of species A in an element of reactor volume dV obeys the
following statement: (Rate of A into volume element) - (rate of A out of volume element) +
(rate of A produced within volume element) = (rate of A accumulated within vol. element) or
in simple word, in - out + generation= accumulation.

OBJECTIVE
-

To determine the effect of temperature on to the reaction extent of conversion.


To determine the reactions activation energy, E.

THEORY
IDEAL STIRRED-TANK REACTOR
A stirred- tank reactor (STR) may be operated either as a batch reactor or as a steadystate flow reactor or better known as Continuous Stirred-Tank Reactor (CSTR). 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, the concentration, or the reaction rate
inside the CSTR. That is, every variable is the same at every point inside the reactor. The
conservation principle requires that the mass of species A in an element of reactor volume V
obey the following statement: Equation (1);

][

Rate of A
Rate of A into
Rate of A out of
Rate of A produced
accumulated

+
volume
volume
within volume =
within volume
element
elements
elements
element

][

][

The reaction studied in this is the saponification of ethyl acetate. This reaction is elementary
and second-order. The reaction equation is
NaOH + EtOAc
A + B

NaOAc + EtOH
C

STEADY STATE MIXED FLOW REACTOR


The general material balance for this reactor is as equation (1) except no accumulation of the
material A in rector. As shown in figure 2 below, if FAO = VOCAO is the molar feed rate of the
component A to the reactor, then considering the reactor as a whole we have,
Input of A (moles/time)

FAO (1 XAO) = FAO

Output of A (moles/time)

Disappearance of A by reaction (moles/time)=

(-rA)V

FA = FAO (1 XAO)

Replacing equation (1) with mathematical formula above,


FAOXA =

(-rA) V

Which on arranging, will form the performance equation for mixed flow reactors,
V

X A

FAO C AO rA

1 V VC AO C AO X A

s vO
FAO
rA

or,

Equation (2)

Figure 1: Components of Mixed Flow Reactor

In mixed flow reactors, XA = XAF and CA= CAF. In a constant density system,
XA

1 (CA/CAO)

The performance equation can be rewritten in terms of concentration, or

C CA
X
V
V C X
A AO
, or , AO A
FAO rA C AO (rA )
v
( rA )
Equation (3)
These expressions relate the four terms XA, -rA, V, FAO; thus, knowing any three allows the
fourth to be found directly. In design, the size of reactor needed for a given duty or the extent

of conversion in a reactor of given size is found directly. Each steady-state point in a mixed
flow reactor gives the reaction rate for the conditions within the reactor. The mixed flow
reactor provides easier interpretation of reaction rate data and makes it very attractive in
kinetic studies.

Figure 2: Plot of 1 / (-rA) versus XA


Irreversible Second-order Reaction (Bimolecular Type)
Consider the reaction:
A+B

Products

The rate equation can be written as:


rA

dC A
dC
A kCAC
dt
dt

Equation (4)

For second order reaction with equal initial concentrations of A and B, the rate equation can
be written based on only one component:
rA

dC A
2
kCA2 kCAO
(1 X A ) 2
dt

Equation (5)

A plot of 1 / CA versus t will produce a straight line with slope equals to k.

EFFECT OF TEMPERATURE ON TO THE REACTION EXTENT,


As we increase the temperature the rate of reaction increases. This is because, if we
heat a substance, the particles move faster and so collide more frequently. That will speed up
the rate of reaction. Collisions between molecules will be more violent at higher
temperatures. The higher temperatures mean higher velocities. This means there will be less
time between collisions. The frequency of collisions will increase. The increased number of
collisions and the greater violence of collisions result in more effective collisions. The rate
for the reaction increases. In any single homogenous reaction, temperature, composition, and
reaction rate are uniquely related. The effect of temperature on reaction rate constant can be
demonstrated by performing a batch reaction run at different temperatures. They can be
represented graphically in three ways one of it as shown below:

r3
r2
r1

Figure 4: graph of r versus T

http://www.metal.ntua.gr/~pkousi/e-learning/bioreactors/page_06.htm
Fogler H.S. (2006). Elements of Chemical Reaction Engineering Fourth Edition.

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