Non Isothermal Reactors: Prepared by
Non Isothermal Reactors: Prepared by
Non Isothermal Reactors: Prepared by
DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL
ENGINEERING
PREPARED BY:
Bawar Ali
REVISED BY
CHEMICAL REACTOR
NONISOTHERMAL REACTORS
NONISOTHERMAL CSTR
REFRENCES
WHAT IS CHEMICAL REACTOR
NONISOTHERMAL REACTORS
Although isothermal conditions are most useful for the measurement of kinetic data,
real reactor operation is normally nonisothermal. Within the limits of heat exchange,
the reactor can operate isothermally (maximum heat exchange) or adiabatically (no
heat exchange).
Consider the batch reactor schematically illustrated in Figure. Typically, reactants are
charged into the reactor from point (1), the temperature of the reactor is increased
by elevating the temperature in the heat transfer fluid, a temperature maximum is
reached, the reactor is then cooled by decreasing the temperature of the heat
transfer fluid and products discharged via point (II).
To describe this process, material and energy balances are required. Recall that the
mass balance on a batch reactor can be written as
where is the extent of reaction ), Hr is the heat of reaction, MS is the total mass of the
system, and (Cp) is an average heat capacity per unit mass for the system. Since enthalpy is a
state variable, the solution of the integral in Equation is path independent.
where a positive value for the heat of reaction denotes an endothermic reaction. Since the
reaction-rate expressions normally employ moles of species in their evaluation:
or in differential form:
where dr is the diameter of the tubular reactor. Recall again that the enthalpy
contains both sensible heat and heat of reaction effects.
TEMPERATURE EFFECTS IN A CSTR
Although the assumption of perfect mixing in the CSTR implies that the reactor
contents will be at uniform temperature (and thus the exit stream will be at this
temperature), the reactor inlet may not be at the same temperature as the reactor. If
this is the case and/or it is necessary to determine the heat transferred to or from
the reactor, then an energy balance is required.
The energy balance for a CSTR can be derived from main Equation by again
carrying out the reaction isothermally at the inlet temperature and then evaluating
sensible heat effects at reactor outlet conditions, that is,
where the superscript f denotes the final or outlet conditions. For adiabatic
operation, Q = O.
APPLICATIONS OF NON ISOTHERMAL REACTORS
Chemical Reactor Analysis and Design by Gilbert Froment and Kenneth B. Bischoff