Plug Flow Reactor

Aim:

To determine the rate constant for the saponification of ethyl acetate with NaOH
at ambient temperature of 28
0
C using a Plug flow reactor.

CH
3
COOC
2
H
5
(A)+NaOH (B) CH
3
COONa +C
2
H
5
OH. It is an elementary
reaction

Procedure for conducting the experiment:
1) Standardise the NaOH stock solution and note down its concentration.
2) Note down the concentration of ethyl acetate(EA) in stock solution
3) Fill the reservoirs with NaOH and ethyl acetate stock solution
4) Calculate the volume of the tubular reactor.
5) Switch on the pump and allow ethyl acetate to flow into the reactor at
certain flowrate and measure the flowrate(v
A
) using rotameter.
6) Calculate the flowrate of NaOH(v
B
) required to keep M=C
Bo
/C
Ao.
.
Calculate the total flowrate (Q).
7) Adjust the flowrate of NaOH to the calculated value, without changing
the ethyl acetate flowrate.
8) Calculate the actual value of M obtained after adjusting the flowrates.
9) Calculate the space time using the total flow rate.
10) Wait till the conductivity meter at the reactor outlet shows a steady
value, indicating steady state.
11) Note down the conductivity meter reading for the mixture at the
reactor outlet,after steady state is attained. Note: Conductivity meter
displays conductance(mS) not the conductivity(mS/cm)[Refer theory for
more information]

12) Determine the concentration of unreacted NaOH in the reaction
mixture by using the conductivity meter calibration data.
13) Repeat steps (4) to (12) with different EA flowrates.


Conduct the experiment at 28
0
C reaction temperature







Steps for use in MATLAB simulator
1. Note down the tube diameter, Coil diameter and the number of turns of the
tubular reactor under consideration .
2. The stock concentrations of ethyl acetate (A) with NaoH (B) are in the
range of 0.02 to 0.06 M. Enter molar ratio of B to A (M) in the reactor
influent to be taken.
3. Enter stock concentration of A and the stock concentration of B within the
range given.
4. Enter the flow rate of A (v
A
) in LPH(litre per hour).
5. Calculate the flow rate of B(v
B
) to be set, such that M =v
B
*C
BS
/v
A
*C
AS
And
enter the flow rate of B.
6. Reading of the conductivity meter (in mS) placed at the reactor outlet at
steady state, will be displayed.
7. Click on Reset. Change the flow rate of A. Repeat steps 5 to 6.Perform the
experiments with minimum six flowrates.

8. Click on Display results to get the entire set of experimental observations
of v
A
, v
B
and corresponding conductivity meter data. Proceed to
calculations as explained in Section A.

Simulator designed for reaction at 28
0
C
Section A
Observations and calculations:
A Ethyl acetate
B NaOH



Strength of Ethyl acetate in stock = C
AS
=------------------------ gmol/lit




Strength of NaOH in stock solution=C
BS=
------------------------ gmol/lit


Diameter of the tube ,d =-----------------------cm

Coil diameter ,D
c
= cm

Number of turns= N
t
=

V =volume of tubular reactor =(d
2
/4) D
c
N
t
=

=-----------------------cm
3

V

=----------------------- L


Tabular columns:

Sl.no Flowrate
of EA
v
A
LPH
Flowrate
of
NaOH
v
B
LPH
Total
flowrate
v
A
+v
B

LPH

Space
time
min

M


Conductivity
meter
reading , mS
Conc. of
NaOH in
reaction
mix ,C
B

gmol/litre









Calculations:

Calculate the total flow rate Q=v
A
+v
B
= litre/min

Calculate the space time , = V/Q = min

Set value of M =v
B
*C
BS
/v
A
*C
AS


Concentartion of ethyl acetate in the feed mixture,
C
Ao
=(v
A
*C
AS
)/Q




C
Ao
=--------------------gmol/litre
Concentartion of NaOH in the feed mixture,
C
BO
=(v
B
*C
BS
)/Q


C
BO
=--------------------gmol/litre



Concentartion of unreacted NaOH in the reaction mixture at steady state,
C
B
= gmol/litre (to be obtained from the conductivity meter
calibration equation)

Conductivitymeter calibration equation for 28
0
C.
C
B
=0.0006 Y -0.0023
Where,
C
B
=Concentration of NaOH in g mol/litre, at at time t
Y =Conductivity meter reading for solution in mS, at time t

Concentartion of ethyl acetate in the reaction mixture at steady state,
C
A
=C
Ao
- C
Bo
+C
B




C
A
=--------------------gmol/litre

Conversion of ethyl acetate, XA =1 (C
A
/ C
Ao
)=


Performance equation for PFR with rate equation of the form
r
A
=kC
A
C
B

for M>1 , can be written as


k
X M
X M
M C
A
A
Ao
=
(

) 1 (
ln
) 1 (
1


Plotting
(

) 1 (
ln
) 1 (
1
A
A
X M
X M
M
vs yields a straightline passing through
origin if the assumed equation is correct. The slope=k.

For M=1, the performance equation is
So the plot of vs
yields a straight line passing through origin. The slope=k.










Sl.no
C
Ao

gmol/litre
C
Bo

gmol/litre

C
A

gmol/litre

X
A


(

) 1 (
ln
) 1 (
1
A
A
X M
X M
M

For M>1
Or

for M=1




min




Graph for M >1


From the graph we get,
Slope =k =lit/(g mole. min)

Result:

The rate constant for the saponification of Ethy acetate with NaOH at a temp of
28C,
k =-------------------------------litre/((gmol)(min))

(

) 1 (
ln
) 1 (
1
A
A
Ao
X M
X M
M C
, min

Slope=k