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Chemical Reactors: Batch Reactors Are Used For Most of The Reactions Carried Out in A Laboratory. The Reactants Are

There are two main types of chemical reactors - batch and continuous. Batch reactors involve placing reactants in a vessel where they react and are then removed, while continuous reactors allow reactants to flow continuously into and products out of the reactor. Continuous reactors are commonly used at large industrial scales due to their ability to operate consistently for long periods without shutdown. They include tubular reactors, fixed bed reactors using catalysts, fluidized bed reactors, and continuously stirred tank reactors. Heat exchangers are also often employed to provide heat to reactions.

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53 views

Chemical Reactors: Batch Reactors Are Used For Most of The Reactions Carried Out in A Laboratory. The Reactants Are

There are two main types of chemical reactors - batch and continuous. Batch reactors involve placing reactants in a vessel where they react and are then removed, while continuous reactors allow reactants to flow continuously into and products out of the reactor. Continuous reactors are commonly used at large industrial scales due to their ability to operate consistently for long periods without shutdown. They include tubular reactors, fixed bed reactors using catalysts, fluidized bed reactors, and continuously stirred tank reactors. Heat exchangers are also often employed to provide heat to reactions.

Uploaded by

Branco Rojas
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Chemical reactors

The reactors, in which chemicals are made in industry, vary in size from a few cm3 to the vast
structures that are often depicted in photographs of industrial plants. For example, kilns that
produce lime from limestone may be over 25 metres high and hold, at any one time, well over
400 tonnes of materials.

The design of the reactor is determined by many factors but of particular importance are the
thermodynamics and kinetics of the chemical reactions being carried out.

The two main types of reactor are termed batch and continuous.

Batch reactors
Batch reactors are used for most of the reactions carried out in a laboratory. The reactants are
placed in a test-tube, flask or beaker. They are mixed together, often heated for the reaction to
take place and are then cooled. The products are poured out and, if necessary, purified.

This procedure is also carried out in industry, the key difference being one of size of reactor and
the quantities of reactants.

Following reaction, the reactor is cleaned ready for another batch of reactants to be added.

Batch reactors are usually used when a company wants to produce a range of products involving
different reactants and reactor conditions. They can then use the same equipment for these reactions.

Continuous reactors
An alternative to a batch process is to feed the reactants continuously into the reactor at one point,
allow the reaction to take place and withdraw the products at another point. There must be an equal
flow rate of reactants and products. While continuous reactors are rarely used in the laboratory, a
water-softener can beregarded as an example of a continuous process. Hard water from the mains is
passed through a tube containing an ion-exchange resin. Reaction occurs down the tube and soft water
pours out at the exit.

Continuous reactors are normally installed when large quantities of a chemical are being produced. It is
important that the reactor can operate for several months without a shutdown.
The product tends to be of a more consistent quality from a continuous reactor because the reaction
parameters (e.g. residence time, temperature and pressure) are better controlled than in batch
operations.

They also produce less waste and require much lower storage of both raw materials and products
resulting in a more efficient operation. Capital costs per tonne of product produced are consequently
lower. The main disadvantage is their lack of flexibility as once the reactor has been built it is only in rare
cases that it can be used to perform a different chemical reaction.

Types of continuous reactors


Industry uses several types of continuous reactors.

(a) Tubular reactors

In a tubular reactor, fluids (gases and/or liquids) flow through it at high velocities. As the reactants flow,
for example along a heated pipe, they are converted to products (Figure 4). At these high velocities, the
products are unable to diffuse back and there is little or no back mixing. The conditions are referred to
as plug flow. This reduces the occurrence of side reactions and increases the yield of the desired
product.

With a constant flow rate, the conditions at any one point remain constant with time and changes in
time of the reaction are measured in terms of the position along the length of the tube.

The reaction rate is faster at the pipe inlet because the concentration of reactants is at its highest and
the reaction rate reduces as the reactants flow through the pipe due to the decrease in concentration of
the reactant.

Tubular reactors are used, for example, in the steam cracking of ethane, propane and butane and
naphtha to produce alkenes.

(b) Fixed bed reactors


A heterogeneous catalyst is used frequently in industry where gases flow through a solid catalyst (which
is often in the form of small pellets to increase the surface area). It is often described as a fixed bed of
catalyst (Figure 5).
Among the examples of their use are the manufacture of sulfuric acid (the Contact Process, with
vanadium(V) oxide as catalyst), the manufacure of nitric acid and the manufacture of ammonia (the
Haber Process, with iron as the catalyst).

A further example of a fixed bed reactor is in catalytic reforming of naphtha to produce branched chain
alkanes, cycloalkanes and aromatic hydrocarbons using usually platinum or a platinum-rhenium alloy on
an alumina support.

(c) Fluid bed reactors


A fluid bed reactor is sometimes used whereby the catalyst particles, which are very fine, sit on a
distributor plate. When the gaseous reactants pass through the distributor plate, the particles are
carried with the gases forming a fluid (Figure 6). This ensures very good mixing of the reactants with the
catalyst, with very high contact between the gaseous molecules and the catalyst and a good heat
transfer. This results in a rapid reaction and a uniform mixture, reducing the variability of the process
conditions.

One example of the use of fluid bed reactors is in the oxychlorination of ethene to chloroethene (vinyl
chloride), the feedstock for the polymer poly(chloroethene) (PVC). The catalyst is copper(II) chloride and
potassium chloride deposited on the surface of alumina. This support is so fine, it acts as a fluid when
gases pass through it.

(d) Continuous stirred tank reactors, CSTR


In a CSTR, one or more reactants, for example in solution or as a slurry, are introduced into a reactor
equipped with an impeller (stirrer) and the products are removed continuously. The impeller stirs the
reagents vigorously to ensure good mixing so that there is a uniform composition throughout. The
composition at the outlet is the same as in the bulk in the reactor. These are exactly the opposite
conditions to those in a tubular flow reactor where there is virtually no mixing of the reactants and the
products.

Heat exchangers
Most chemical reactions are faster at higher temperatures and heat exchangers are frequently used to
provide the heat necessary to increase the temperature of the reaction.

A common heat exchanger is the shell and tube type (Figures 12 and 13) where one part of the process
flows through a tube and the other part around the shell.

A good example where heat exchange is important is in the manufacture of sulfur trioxide from sulfur
dioxide in the Contact Process where the excess heat is used to warm incoming gases.
The heat from the reaction is transferred to incoming gases across the tube wall (Figure 12) and the rate
of heat transfer is proportional to:

i) the temperature difference between the hot gases and the incoming gases and

ii) the total surface area of the tubes

Thus the rate of heat transfer required will determine the size of the exchanger but when a chemical
reaction also occurs in the exchanger (as in the case of tubular reactors ), it is important to take into
account the residence time of the materials (whether they be gases or liquids) in the heat exchanger.

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