CHAPTER 3

Objectives
Advanced
reactor Upon the completion of this chapter,
technology
students are able to:
 State the common arrangement of reactor
Series
& in industry.
parallel
Various
 State the importance of the arrangement to
operation the reactor volume.
of reactor  Demonstrate the calculation with different
reactor arrangement.
Reactor Technology 2

Various operation of reactor Reactor in Series

Parallel • Reactors are connected in series so that
the exit stream of one reactor is the feed
stream for another reactor.
Series Combine
• It is often possible to speed calculations
by defining conversion in terms of
Arrange location at a point downstream rather
ment than with respect to any single reactor.

Reactor Technology 3 Reactor Technology 4

Reactor in Series Reactor in Series

FAO
 Conversion X is the total number of X1 X2
moles of A that have reacted up to that 1
FA1 FA2
2
point per mole of A fed to the first reactor. CSTR i=1 PFR i=2
X3
 However, this definition can only be used 3
FA3
provided that there are no side streams F F C  C Ai
withdrawn and the feed stream enters Xi  A0 Ai  A0 CSTR i=3
FA0 C A0
only the first reactor in series.

 Valid with no side stream*

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1
 Reactor in Series Reactor in Series
FAO
X1 X2 • PFR – PFR
1 FA1 FA2
2
CSTR i=1 PFR i=2
X3
• CSTR – CSTR
3
FA3

FAi = FA0 – FA0Xi CSTR i=3

• CSTR – PFR
Molar flow Moles of A All moles of
rate of A at
point i
fed to the
1st reactor
A reacted
up to point i
• PFR – CSTR
Reactor Technology 8

PFR - PFR

X1  X 0
X1 
2
0.7 X 2  X1
X 2 
2
∆X2
∆X1

X2
dX  X1 dX X 2 dX 
v  FA 0   FA 0      X0 X MID 1 X1 X MID 2 X2
0  rA  0  rA X1  rA 
Reactor Technology 9 Reactor Technology 10

PFR - PFR
• By using Simpson’s rule to evaluate the Using the data below X -rA
calculate the reactor 0.0 0.0053
integrals;
volume V1 and V2 for 0.1 0.0052
X1
dX X1  1 4 1  the plug-flow sequence 0.2 0.0050
VPFR ,1  FA0   FA0    
Xo  rA 3   rA( X0 )  rA( Xmid )  rA( X1)  in series when the 0.3 0.0045
intermediate conversion 0.4 0.0040
is 40% and the final 0.5 0.0033
X2
dX X 2  1 4 1 
VPFR ,2  FA 0   FA0     conversion is 70%. The 0.6 0.0025
X1  rA 3   rA( X1)  rA( Xmid )  rA( X 2 )  entering molar flow rate, 0.7 0.0018
FAo = 0.867 mol/s 0.8 0.00125
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2
 Solution: • For the first reactor,
0.4 dX
V1  FAo 
0  rA

X1  1 4 1 
 FAo  
3   rA X 0  0  rA X mid  0.2  rA X1  0.4 

0.55 0.7

Reactor Technology 13 Reactor Technology 14

• For the second reactor, The total volume is then

V2  FA 0 XX12
dX
VT  V1  V2  ? dm3
 rA

X 2  1 4 1 
 FAo  
3   rA X1  0.4  rA X mid  0.55   rA X 2  0.7 

0.7

=
Reactor Technology 15 Reactor Technology 16

CSTR - CSTR

FA1

FA2
0.7

X0 X1 X2

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3
 • In second reactor, the rate of
• For the first reactor in which rate of
disappearance of A, -rA2, is evaluated and
disappearance of A is –rA1 at conversion
the conversion is that of the exit stream of
X1, the volume necessary to achieve the
reactor 2, X2.
conversion X1 is
• The volume necessary to increase the
FA 0  FA1 FAo X1  conversion in reactor 2 from X1 to X2 is
V1  
-rA( X1) -rA( X1)
FA1  FA 2 FA 0 ( X 2  X1)
V2  
-rA ( X 2 ) - rA( X 2 )

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For the two CSTRs in X -rA

• Solution:
series, 40% conversion is 0.0 0.0053
achieved in the first 0.1 0.0052
reactor. What is the total 0.2 0.0050 FAo X1 
volume of the two reactors 0.3 0.0045 V1 
-rA( X1)
necessary for 70% overall 0.4 0.0040
conversion of the species FA 0 ( X 2  X1)
0.5 0.0033 V2 
A entering reactor 1. The 0.6 0.0025 - rA ( X 2 )
entering molar flow rate,
0.7 0.0018
FAo = 0.867 mol/s 0.55 0.7
0.8 0.00125
Reactor Technology 0.85 0.001 21 Reactor Technology 22

Reactor in Series
Note that for CSTRs in series the rate –rA1 is FA1
evaluated at a conversion of 0.4 and rate FA0 X1

–rA2 is evaluated at a conversion of 0.7.

X2
FA2

The total volume is VT  V1  V2  ? dm3 L

FA0 X1
X2
FA1
FA2
CONVERSION (X1, X2 and X3) EQUATIONS
CONVERSION (X1, AND X2) EQUATIONS
FA0  FA1 FA0  FA2
X1  X2 
Reactor Technology 23
FA0 FA0

4
 FA1

FA0 X1 FA0 X1
X2 X2
FA1
FA2 FA2

REACTOR VOLUME (V1and V2) EQUATIONS REACTOR VOLUME (V1, V2 and V3) EQUATIONS
SCHEME A (PFR-CSTR) SCHEME B (CSTR-PFR)

X1
dX FA0 X 2  X1  FA0X1 X2
dX
V1  FA0  V2  V1  V2  FA0 
0  rA(X1)  rA(X2 )  rA(X1) X1  rA(X2 )

Calculate the individual X -rA

reactor volumes as well as the 0.0 0.0053 Solution:
total reactor volume for each 0.1 0.0052 • From data in Table and evaluate the
scheme in Figure shown 0.2 0.0050 design integrals.
before for the reaction data 0.3 0.0045
given in the table next pg.
• Scheme A:
0.4 0.0040
when the intermediate X1
dX
0.5 0.0033 Plug flow: V1  FA0 
conversion is 40% and the 0.6 0.0025 0  rA(X1)
final conversion is 70%. The
0.7 0.0018 FA0( X 2  X1)
entering molar flow rate, FAo = CSTR: V2 
0.8 0.00125  rA(X2 )
0.867 mol/s
0.85 0.001
Reactor Technology 27 Reactor Technology 28

PFR: • Scheme B:
dX
0.4
FAoX1
V1  FA 0  V1 
0  rA • CSTR:  rA( X1)

 FAo
X1  1

4

1  FAo 0.4
3   rA X 0  0  rA X mid  0.2  rA X1  0.4 
V1 
 rA ( X10.4 )
CSTR: X2
dX
F (0.7  0.4)
V2  A0
• PFR: V2  FA0 X1  rA( X2 )
 rA(X 2 0.7)
X 2  1 4 1 
V2  FAo   r X  0.4   r X  0.55    r X  0.7
3  A 1 A mid A 2 
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 • Scheme B will give the smaller total reactor
volume for an intermediate conversion of 40%.

• However, the relative sizes of the reactors

depend on the intermediate conversion.

• If we know the molar flow rate to the reactor and

0.55 0.7 0.55 0.7
the reaction rate as a function of conversion,
then we can calculate the reactor volume
The volume for Scheme A and Scheme B necessary to achieve specified conversion.

Reactor Technology 31 Reactor Technology 32

• The reaction rate does not depend on
conversion alone. It is also affected by the initial
concentrations of the reactants, the temperature
and the pressure.
• Finally, let’s consider approximating a PFR with a
number of small, equal-volume CSTRs of Vi in series. We
want to compare the total volume of all the CSTRs with
the volume of one plug-flow reactor for the same
conversion (70%).

• However, it is important to realize that if the rate

of reaction is available solely as a function of
conversion, -rA = f(X), or if it can be generated
by some intermediate calculation, one can
design a variety of reactors or combination of
reactor.

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• The total volumes achieve 70% conversion for

five CSTRs of equal volume in series are
roughly the same as the volume of a PFR.

• As we make the volume of each CSTR smaller

and increase the number of CSTRs, the total
volume of the CSTRs and PFR will become
identical.

• That is, we can model a PFR as a number of

CSTRs in series.

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6
Reactor Technology 37