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The document discusses Arrhenius temperature dependency and how it relates the rate constant k of a reaction to temperature. It can be calculated from experimental data by taking the natural log of k and plotting it versus the inverse of the absolute temperature, with the slope of the line equaling -E/R, where E is the activation energy and R is the gas constant. The document also provides equations for general reactor design and for ideal batch reactors. The general reactor design equation accounts for molar flow rates in and out and the rate of generation of a species by reaction. The ideal batch reactor equation sets the molar flow rates to zero since there are no inlets or outlets, relating the rate of change of moles

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Mourad kharbach
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8 views

Reactors1 19

The document discusses Arrhenius temperature dependency and how it relates the rate constant k of a reaction to temperature. It can be calculated from experimental data by taking the natural log of k and plotting it versus the inverse of the absolute temperature, with the slope of the line equaling -E/R, where E is the activation energy and R is the gas constant. The document also provides equations for general reactor design and for ideal batch reactors. The general reactor design equation accounts for molar flow rates in and out and the rate of generation of a species by reaction. The ideal batch reactor equation sets the molar flow rates to zero since there are no inlets or outlets, relating the rate of change of moles

Uploaded by

Mourad kharbach
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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where k is the rate constant, k0 the frequency factor of pre-exponential, E the activation

energy, R the universal gas constant, and T the absolute temperature. For most reactions,
the activation energy is positive, and the rate constant k increases with temperature.
Some reactions have very little or no temperature dependence and therefore activation
energy values close to zero. A few complex reactions have a net negative activation
energy and actually decrease with temperature. These reactions are extremely rare.
The Arrhenius temperature dependency for a reaction can be calculated using
experimental data. The procedure is to run a reaction at several different temperatures to
get the rate constant k as a function of absolute temperature. From the previous equations
ln k = ln k0 - E/RT; the natural log of k is then plotted versus the reciprocal of the
absolute temperature. The slope of this line is then -E/R, and the intercept is the ln k0.

B. DESIGN EQUATIONS

1. General Reactor Design Equation

All chemical reactors have at least one thing in common: Chemical species are created or
destroyed. In developing a general reactor design equation, we focus on what happens to
the number of moles of a particular species i. Consider a region of space where chemical
species flow into the region, partially reacts, and then flows out of the region. Doing a
material balance, we find

rate in - rate out + rate of generation


= rate of accumulation

In equation form
dN i
n& i 0 − n& i + G i =
dt
where n& i 0 is the molar flow rate of i in, n& i the molar flow rate of i out, Gi the rate of
generation of i by chemical reaction, and dNi/dt the rate of accumulation of i in the
region. The rate of generation of i by chemical reaction is directly related to the rate of
reaction by

&t dN
G = ∫ V r dV = i
i 0 i dt

2. Ideal Batch Reactor Equation

A batch reactor has no inlet or outlet flows, so n& i 0 = n& i = 0. Perfect mixing is
assumed for this ideal reactor, and the rate ri is independent of position. This changes
our generation term in the general reactor design equation to

Vt
∫ 0 ri dV = ri V t
Then, by the general design equation, our ideal batch reactor equation becomes

1 dN i
= ri
V t dt

This equation does not define the rate ri, which is an algebraic expression independent of
reactor type such as ri = kCi2.

a. Constant Volume Batch Reactors. For the special case of constant volume or
constant density (usually values for the mixture, not the reactor), we can simplify the
ideal batch reactor equations. Starting with the ideal batch reactor equation

1 dN i
= ri
V t dt

the volume is placed inside the differential and changed to concentration:

(
d N i /V t)=
dC i
= ri
dt dt

[constant Vt, ideal batch reactor].

This equation is usually valid for liquid-phase reactions and for gas reactions where the
sum of the stoichiometric numbers equals zero, but it is invalid for constant pressure gas-
phase reactions with mole changes.
When the rate expression is known, this equation yields the major design variable, time,
for a batch reaction of given concentration or conversion.
Example. A → B + C (irreversible, aqueous reaction). The rate expression can be
written as
rA = -kCA

Using this rate expression and the constant density ideal batch reactor equation gives

dC A
= − kC A
dt

Integrating with an initial concentration CA0 at t = 0 gives

CA
ln = − kt [constant volume, Vt ]
C A0

where t is the time for the batch reaction.


It is often convenient to work with fractional conversion of a reactant species. Let i = A,
a reactant, then

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