Reactor Design

Lecture 4
Fall 2007
ChEE ABE 481a/581a
Mass Balance on Reactive System
In - out + gen - cons = accumulation





A mass balance for the system is

N
A
is the mass of A inside the system.
G
A
Rate of
generation/
consumption
F
A0
Rate of flow in
F
A
Rate of flow out
System
G
A
Rate of
generation/
consumption
F
A0
Rate of flow in
F
A
Rate of flow out
System
dt
dN
G F F
A
A A A
= +
0
The reaction term can be written in more familiar
terms,
G
A
= r
A
V
V is volume of the system.
Note that the units for this relation are consistent:


If G
A
(and hence r
A
) varies with position in the
system volume, we can take this into account by
evaluating this term at several locations. Then
AG
A1
= r
A1
AV
1
,
volume
time volume
mass
time
mass
-

=
Summing the reactions over the entire
volume yields:




As (that is, as we decrease the size of these
cubes and increase their number)
which gives


= =
A = A =
k
i
i Ai
k
i
Ai A
V r G G
1 1
k
}
=
V
A A
dV r G
0 AV
Generalized Design Equation for
Reactors
In - out + gen - cons = accumulation

dt
dN
dV r F F
A
V
A A A
= +
}
0
Types of Reactors
Batch
No flow of material in or out of reactor
Changes with time
Fed- Batch
Either an inflow or an outflow of material but not both
Changes with time
Continuous
Flow in and out of reactor
Continuous Stirred Tank Reactor (CSTR)
Plug Flow Reactor (PFR)
Steady State Operation
Batch Reactor
Generalized Design Equation for
Reactors

No flow into or out of the reactor,
then, F
A
= F
A0
= 0


Good mixing, constant volume
dt
dN
dV r F F
A
V
A A 0 A
= +
}
}
=
V
A
A
dV r
dt
dN
V r
dt
dN
A
A
=
( )
A
A A
r
dt
dC
dt
V N d
= =
or
Enzyme Batch Reactor
(constant volume, well mixed)
integrate from t = 0 to t = t, we obtain
K
m
ln (S
0
/S) + (S
0
-S) = v
max
t

Batch reactors are often used in the early stage of
development due to their ease of operation and
analysis
S K
S v
dt
dS
r
M
+
= =
max
Fed Batch Reactor
Reactor Design Equation


No outflow F
A
= 0
Good Mixing r
A
dV
term out of the integral
dt
dN
dV r F F
A
V
A A A
= +
}
0
( )
dt
V C d
dt
dN
V r F
A A
A A

= = +
0
Fed Batch Continued
Convert the mass (N
A
) to concentration. Applying
integration by parts yields


Since

Then


Rearranging
dt
dV
C
dt
dC
V V r F
A
A
A A
+ = +
0
0 A
F
dt
dV
=
0 0 A A
A
A A
F C
dt
dC
V V r F + = +
V
F C
r
V
F
dt
dC
A A
A
A A 0 0
+ =
Fed Batch Continued
Or


Used when there is substrate inhibition and
for bioreactors with cells.
( )
A A
A A
r C
V
F
dt
dC
+ = 1
0
Assumptions for a fed batch reactor
include

O
n
l
y

a

f
e
e
d

i
n

E
i
t
h
e
r

a

f
e
e
d

i
n

o
r

a
.
.
.

S
t
e
a
d
y

s
t
a
t
e

2

a
n
d

3


A
l
l

o
f

t
h
e

a
b
o
v
e
0%
64%
7%
29%
0%
1. Only a feed in
2. Either a feed in or a
removal stream
3. Steady state
4. 2 and 3
5. All of the above
Continuous Stirred Tank Reactor
Assume rate of flow in = rate of flow out
F
A

= v C
A
and F
A0

= v C
A0

v = volumetric flow rate (volume/time)
CSTR - continued
General Reactor Design Equation


Assume Steady State

Well Mixed

So or
dt
dN
dV r F F
A
V
A A A
= +
}
0
0 =
dt
dN
A
A
V
A
Vr dV r =
}
0
0
= +
A A A
Vr F F
A
A A
r
F F
V

=
0
CSTR for Enzymes
(Enzyme remains inside)
Input - output + generation - consump = accumulation


F - flow rate l/hr
S - substrate conc.
V- reactor volume
r - reaction rate
at Steady State dS/dt = 0

dt
dS
v rV FS FS =
0
CSTR - enzymes
rV = F(S
0
- S)

or r = F/V(S
0
- S) = D(S
0
- S)

D= dilution Rate (hr
-1
)
t = residence time (hr)
If

Then




S K
S v
r
M
+
=
max
S S
S v
K S
M

+ =
0
max
t
Plug Flow Reactor (PFR)
Tubular Reactor
Pipe through which fluid flows and reacts.
Poor mixing
Difficult to control temperature variations.
An advantage is the simplicity of construction.
PFR Design Equation
Design Equation

Examine a small volume element (AV) with length
Ay and the same radius as the entire pipe.



If the element is small, then spatial variations in r
A

are negligible, and

dt
dN
dV r F F
A
V
A A A
= +
}
0
V r dV r
A
V
A
A =
}
Flow of
A into
Element
Flow of
A out of
Element
Assumption of good
mixing applies only to
the small volume
element
If volume element is very small, then assume steady
state with no changes in the concentration of A.


Simplify design equation to:

r
A
is a function of position y, down the length of the
pipe and reactant concentration
The volume of an element is the product of the length
and cross-sectional area,
AV = A Ay
Design Equation becomes:

0 =
dt
dN
A
( ) ( ) 0 = A + A + V r y y F y F
A A A
( ) ( )
A
A A
Ar
y
y F y y F
=
(

A
A +
take the limit where the size of a volume
element becomes infinitesimally small


or because Ay A = V,


This is the Design Equation for a PFR
Bioapplications - Sometimes hollow fiber
reactor analysis is simplified to a PFR

A
A
y
Ar
dy
dF
=
A
lim
0
A
A
r
dV
dF
=