FACUALITY OF ENGINEERING
DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL
ENGINEERING
NON ISOTHERMAL REACTORS
PREPARED BY:
Bawar Ali
REVISED BY
Arkan Jasim Hadi
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHEMICAL REACTOR
NONISOTHERMAL REACTORS
NONISOTHERMAL UNSTEADY (BATCH) REACTORS
NONISOTHERMAL STEADY REACTORS
NONISOTHERMAL PLUG FLOW REACTOR
NONISOTHERMAL CSTR
APPLICATIONS OF NON ISOTHERMAL REACTORS
REFRENCES
WHAT IS CHEMICAL REACTOR
A chemical reactor is an enclosed volume in which a chemical reaction takes place. In
chemical engineering, it is generally understood to be a process vessel used to carry
out a chemical reaction, which is one of the classic unit operations in chemical
process analysis. The design of a chemical reactor deals with multiple aspects of
chemical engineering. Chemical engineers design reactors to maximize net present
value for the given reaction. Designers ensure that the reaction proceeds with the
highest efficiency towards the desired output product, producing the highest yield of
product while requiring the least amount of money to purchase and operate. Normal
operating expenses include energy input, energy removal, raw material costs, labor,
etc. Energy changes can come in the form of heating or cooling, pumping to increase
pressure, frictional pressure loss or agitation.
NONISOTHERMAL REACTORS
Although isothermal conditions are most useful for the measurement of kinetic data,
real reactor operation is normally nonisothermal. Within the limits of heat exchange,
the reactor can operate isothermally (maximum heat exchange) or adiabatically (no
heat exchange).
NONISOTHERMAL UNSTEADY (BATCH) REACTORS
Consider the batch reactor schematically illustrated in Figure. Typically, reactants are
charged into the reactor from point (1), the temperature of the reactor is increased
by elevating the temperature in the heat transfer fluid, a temperature maximum is
reached, the reactor is then cooled by decreasing the temperature of the heat
transfer fluid and products discharged via point (II).
To describe this process, material and energy balances are required. Recall that the
mass balance on a batch reactor can be written as
where is the extent of reaction ), Hr is the heat of reaction, MS is the total mass of the
system, and (Cp) is an average heat capacity per unit mass for the system. Since enthalpy is a
state variable, the solution of the integral in Equation is path independent.
where a positive value for the heat of reaction denotes an endothermic reaction. Since the
reaction-rate expressions normally employ moles of species in their evaluation:
or in differential form:
These equations define the energy balance for a batch reactor.
NONISOTHERMAL STEADY REACTORS
NONISOTHERMAL PLUG FLOW REACTOR
Consider a PFR operating at nonisothermal conditions. PFR is a tubular reactor of
constant cross-sectional area and that T and C do not vary over the radial direction of
the tube, the heat transfer rate Q can be written for a differential section of reactor
volume as
where dr is the diameter of the tubular reactor. Recall again that the enthalpy
contains both sensible heat and heat of reaction effects.
TEMPERATURE EFFECTS IN A CSTR
Although the assumption of perfect mixing in the CSTR implies that the reactor
contents will be at uniform temperature (and thus the exit stream will be at this
temperature), the reactor inlet may not be at the same temperature as the reactor. If
this is the case and/or it is necessary to determine the heat transferred to or from
the reactor, then an energy balance is required.
The energy balance for a CSTR can be derived from main Equation by again
carrying out the reaction isothermally at the inlet temperature and then evaluating
sensible heat effects at reactor outlet conditions, that is,
where the superscript f denotes the final or outlet conditions. For adiabatic
operation, Q = O.
APPLICATIONS OF NON ISOTHERMAL REACTORS
In the conventional production of DME we use adiabatic or non isothermal
packed bed reactor the flow diagram is below.
In the large scale production of polymers the polymerization reactor is non
isothermal CSTR
REFRENCES
Chemical Reactor Design and Control William L. Luyben
Chemical reactor design Peter Harriott
Chemical reactor design, optimization, and scaleup by E. Bruce Nauman
Chemical Reactor Analysis and Design by Gilbert Froment and Kenneth B. Bischoff
