DEFINITION OF REACTION RATE

OUTLINE
In this section we cover the basic definitions and notation of reaction rate, the basis for all reaction problems

CONCENTRATION CHANGES IN A BATCH REACTOR

Lets take a spontaneous liquid phase reaction (no catalyst required) where:

A+B C
If we were able to measure the concentration of A from the time it got mixed with B, we will get something like this:

CA
A,B,C

CONCENTRATION CHANGES IN A BATCH REACTOR

Similarly if we take a catalysed liquid phase reaction where:

AB
If we were able to measure the concentration of A from the time it got mixed with B, we will get something like this:

CA
A,B,C

t
We can even take fishes in pond eating pellets and plot the amount of pellets in the pond as a function of time.

pellets

DESCRIBING THE RATE OF DEPLETION/FORMATION

For these 3 examples we need to describe the rate of change. One might wonder how to define the rate, or rather what should be the units of rate? For a first guess we can use : moles reacted or time pellets eaten time

But one should keep in mind that we want to use the rate to predict the behaviour in different systems. For example we can ask what will the rate be if we double the amount of fishes in the pond. It will be more preferable to define the rate units as: pellets eaten time fish

This will help us to predict the pond behaviour independent of the amount of fishes in the pond. We do the same for reaction. For spontaneous or homogeneous reactions we use volume as a basis since more molecules will react in a larger volume, thus the units are given by: moles reacted time volume For a catalysed system the amount of molecules reacting is dependant on the amount (mass) of catalyst present. We therefore use the units: moles reacted time mass of catalyst

NOTATION USED FOR REACTION RATE

Now that we now the units, we need to get acquired to the notation typically used by reaction engineers. For a homogeneous production/formation rate of component I we use:

ri
For a catalysed production/formation rate of component I we use:

ri
Depletion rates or reagents will have an opposite sign, so if we take the homogeneous reaction

A+2B C

rA will be negative rC will be positive -rA will be positive

The units will be given by:

-rA

moles reacted time volume

-rA

moles reacted time mass of catalyst

The two definitions are related via a simple scalar, the catalyst concentration (mass/volume): Check units!

-rA = -rA .CCAT

STOICHEOMETRY BASICS
A common mistake at the start of a reaction problem is: Sign mistake Wrong ratio of stoicheometric coefficients

Take the reaction:

3A+6B 4C+10D
Fill the blocks with the correct ratio and sign:

-rA=

rB=

rC=

rD

ALWAYS DOUBLE CHECK THAT YOU ARE 100% CORRECT!

THE MOLE BALANCE

Like in all chemical engineering problems we use the mass balance to solve the reactor behaviour. Since we will be focusing on how certain components form/deplete, multiple mole balances is the most convenient way of performing a mass balance.

Mole balances can only contain on of the following type of terms:

Moles in

Moles out

Moles accumulated

Moles formed/depleted via reaction

For now we will be working with batch reactors, and it is easy to show that:

Moles accumulated

Moles formed via reaction

Using the definition of reaction rate the mole balance becomes:

or

This applies for reactants and products and assumes a well mixed batch reactor