CONFIDENTIAL, 2 EHIDEC 2014/CHE625 QUESTION 1 (P02, CO41, CO3, C3, C1, C3, C3) a) Consider a nonporous catalyst pellet in which only the external surface is reactive. ‘Assuming steady state condition where there is no accumulation on the surface: [Rate of transport to catalyst surface] = [Rate of reaction at catalyst surface] For a first order irreversible reaction of reactant A, derive an expression for the effective rate constant, ker and also, identify the limiting cases of this expression. (8 marks) b) A catalytic reaction A > B occurs on the tube walls of 2 cm in diameter with a flow rate of 0.15 L/s. The rate expression of the catalytic reaction is: 5x 10°C, where r” is in moles/cm?-s) and Ca in moles/liter. i) Calculate the tube's length in order to achieve 90% conversion if the concentration is uniform across the tube. (7 marks) ii) If the flow is turbulent with Reynold’s number, Re = 4500 and Schmidt number, So= 0.8 determine the tube's length. Data: Diffusivity of reactant A; Da = 0.15 om*/sec For flow through tube and turbulent flow; Sherwood no : Sh, = 0.023 Re Se (6 marks) QUESTION 2 (P05, CO1, CO2, C1, C4, C2) a) A low-boiling solvent, methyl ethyl ketone (MEK) is used for nitrocellulose, acrylic, vinyl surface coatings and also for polymerisation processing of polystyrene, acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS), and styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR). Industrially, it can be produced from the dehydrogenation of 2-Butanol (Bu) over a zinc oxide catalyst. The reaction is carried out at 500°C in a differential reactor. The rate equation is Bu» MEK +H, where the reaction is dual site surface reaction and irreversible. © Hak Cipta Universiti Teknologi MARA CONFIDENTIALCONFIDENTIAL 3 EHIDEC 2014/CHE625 i) __If desorption of H- is dissociative, write the mechanism of reaction and the respective rates for each steps. (8 marks) ji) If surface reaction is the rate-controlling step and H; is weakly adsorbed, prove that the overall rate is: pope nN Eye [t+ KesPou + Kiuex Puck F (8 marks) b) _ Batch reactors are preferable to be used for most of biological reaction systems as compared to continuous reactors. Explain briefly the reasons for this preference, (4 marks) QUESTION 3 (P06, C04, C5, C3) @) Apacked bed reactor of catalyst pellets is as shown in Figure 1 where Cy is the bulk gas-phase concentration of reactant A at any point along the length of the bed. Figure 1. Packed bed reactor By assuming steady state operation and neglecting any radial variations in concentration, perform a mole balance on the second order reaction of A over the volume element AV to yield diffusivity relation — U4 — apgk’s,C2, = 0 dz? az (8 marks) b)._ The second-order decomposition reaction of A is carried out in a tubular reactor packed with catalyst pellets with 0.35cm in diameter. Pure A enters the reactor at temperature 270°C and pressure of 500 kPa with superficial velocity, U of 3.5 m/s. From experiments performed, the reaction is found to be internal-diffusion limited and specific reaction rate is 50 m®/mol-g cat's. The reaction is to achieve 85% conversion and by using diffusivity relation equation in Question 3(a), determine the required length, L of the catalyst bed. Data: Effective diffusivity, D. = 2.66 x 10° m/s © Hak Cipta Universiti Teknologi MARA CONFIDENTIALCONFIDENTIAL 4 EHIDEC 2014/CHE625 Bed porosity, E, = 0.4 Pellet density, py = 2x 10° gim® Internal surface area, S, = 400 mig (12 marks) QUESTION 4 (POS, CO2, CO3, C5, C3,) Chain branching reaction decomposition of A—+>B+C proceeds via the following mechanism: ADR, 1 =kCa A+R>B+C+aR, 1,=k,CsCe R>Xx, 1 =k(Cy a) Generate an expression for the overall rate of reaction propagated by a radical, R. Examine the maximum and minimum possible order of reaction with respect to concentration of A and state your assumption. (12 marks) b) If the reaction decomposition of A is carried out in plug flow reactor (PFR) to attain 90% conversion, determine the residence time with respect to Cy, (8 marks) QUESTION 5 (P06, CO3, C3, C3) Falling film reactors (FFR) are generally used in processes where it is essential to have large interfacial contact area and also, where temperature is required to be maintained below certain limits, for example, in the manufacture of cosmetics. In this particular reactor, a liquid phase reaction will be carried out by the following reaction: 4+20, + products An aqueous solution that contains 15 ppm organic contaminant A with molecular weight of 120 g/mol will be removed by the reaction with oxygen from air. The solution flows at an average velocity of 12 cm/s and forms a liquid film of 2 mm thickness on the wall of reactor. The fluids flow in a counter-current direction at 27°C and pressure of 1 atm. Diameter of the reactor is 3 om and air flows at an average velocity of 2 cm/s a) Calculate the oxygen concentration and organic contaminant in the liquid and gas phases by assuming all contaminants are consumed in the reaction. (6 marks) © Hak Cipta Universiti Teknologi MARA CONFIDENTIALCONFIDENTIAL 5 EHIDEC 2014/CHE625 b) _ If mass transfer limits the reaction and there is no reaction in gas phase, determine the length of the reactor when conversion is 96%: Additional information: Diffusivity of oxygen = 0.2 cm’/s Rate constant (k) = 10? Limol's Henry's Law constant, H = 1x 10° atm Universal gas constant, R = 82.06 cm*-atm/mol.K For laminar flow through tube, Sherwood number = lo (14 marks) END OF QUESTION PAPER © Hak Cipta Universiti Teknologi MARA CONFIDENTIAL