Process Analysis and Selection

Physical, Chemical and Biological

Physical Unit Operations

Physical forces predominate e.g. screening, mixing, sedimentation etc.

Chemical Unit Operations

Chemicals or chemical reactions predominate e.g. Disinfection, oxidation, precipitation etc.

Biological Unit Operations

Biological activity e.g. activated sludge, trickling filter

Rate of Reaction
Depends on constituents, temperature and type of reactor

Material Mass Balance

Accounting of Mass of reactants and products in various streams and equipment is called material
mass balance. Used for sizing of lines and equipment.

The preparation of mass balance ensures monitoring of process performance, modeling of fluids flow in
the reactor and analysis of hydraulics.

Types of reactors

Batch Reactor: flow is neither entering nor leaving during the reaction. The reactants are
preloaded and upon completion of reaction the whole batch is unloaded and then preparations for new
batch start.

Complete Mix Reactor: In this Reactor, complete mixing of all the constituents occur
instantaneously and uniformly throughout the Reactor.

Plug flow reactor: In this reactor, the constituents pass thou the reactor with little or no
longitudinal mixing and exit with same sequence.

Complete Mix reactor in series: In this reactor, the flow regime is between ideal hydraulic flow
patterns corresponding to complete mix and plug flow.

Packed bed reactor: In this reactor, there are trays loaded with packing material made up of
polymers, rock, slag and the purpose is to enhance contact between the reactants. Flow may be upwards
or downwards.

Fluidized bed reactor: It is same as packed bed reactor only the upward movement of fluid
expands the packing material.

Applications of reactors:
Nature of wastewater
Reaction (homogenous or heterogeneous)
Reaction Kinetics
Process performance
Environmental conditions

Hydraulic characteristics of reactor

Ideal or Non-ideal
Complete Mix or plug flow

Ideal flow in the complete mix and plug flow reactor

Non-ideal flow in complete-mix and plug flow reactors

Mass balance analysis

Mass balance principle

Preparation of mass balance

Simplified schematic diagram

System and control volume boundary
Pertinent data and assumptions
Rate expressions

Application of mass balance analysis

Assumptions
Volumetric flow is constant
No evaporation
Mixed completely
Reaction happens only in reactor
Change of concentration is proportional to the reaction rate

Modeling ideal flow in the reactor

A) Complete Mix reactor
B) Plug flow reactor

Effects of temperature on reaction rate

Vant Hoff - Arrhenius relation

Ln (K2/K1) = E ( T2-T1)/ (R x T1 x T2)

Constituents transformation and Removal process in environment:

Adsorption/Desorption
Algal Synthesis
Bacterial Conversion
Photochemical reaction
Filtration
Flocculation
Gad adsorption/Desorption
Natural Decay

Analysis of Non-ideal flow in Reactor using tracers

Factors leading to Non-Ideal flow in reactor

Need for tracer analysis

Conduct of tracer tests
Types of tracers
Tracer response curves
Practical Interpretation of tracers

Factors leading to Non-Ideal flow in reactors

Temperature Difference
Wind driven circulation pattern

Inadequate mixing
Poor design

Axial dispersion in plug flow reactors

In Plug flow reactors, forward movement of tracer is due to advection and dispersion.
Advection: Movement of dissolved or colloidal material with current velocity
Dispersion: Axial or longitudinal transport of material brought about by velocity differences,
turbulent eddies and velocity diffusion.

Use of Tracers:
The tracers are used to achieve ideal conditions in the reactor to assess the performance.

Hydraulic performance of full scale reactors

Important applications:
Short circuiting in biological reactors and sedimentation tanks
Contact time in chlorine contact basins
Hydraulic approach conditions in the UV reactors
Flow patterns in the constructed wet lands

Important characteristics of tracers

Should not affect the flow
Conservative so that mass balance can be done
Inject tracer over short period of time
Analyzed conveniently
Molecular diffusivity low
Should not absorb or react
Concentration versus time tracer response curves

Tracer response curves measured over short time and continuous injection are called as C-curves

Residence time distribution curves

Standardize the analysis of output concentration versus time curves for a pulse input, concentration
measurements are divided by appropriate function such as area.

Modeling Non-Ideal flow in reactors:

There is a clear distinction between molecular diffusion, turbulent diffusion and dispersion.

Molecular diffusion occurs in quiescent flow conditions in which diffusion occurs due to a concentration
gradient
Turbulent mixing occurs with mass transfer and is brought about by micro scale disturbance called eddies.

Plug flow reactor with axial dispersion:

Peclect Number:
Ration of Mass transport brought about by advection and dispersions

Complete mix reactors in series:

Varying amount of axial dispersion is found in the plug flow reactors, the flow is called arbitrary flow and is
modeled as complete mix reactors in series.

Reactions, Reaction Rates and Reaction rate coefficients:

Homogenous reaction

Reactants are distributed throughout the fluid and the potential for reaction is same at all points. Batch,
complete mix and plug flow work on this reaction

Heterogeneous reaction
Reaction occurs between two or more constituents,
Unlike homogenous, the reaction occurs preferentially at specific sites
Solid phase catalyst is used to facilitate the reaction
Packed and fluidized bed reactors work on this basis.
Rate of reaction:
Change in the number of moles of reactants per unit volume per unit time.