Aspects of Stirred Tank Batch Reactor

4 Design Aspects of Stirred Tank Batch Reactor 

Because the stirred-tank batch reactor is still the most commonly used reactor in the production of fine chemicals, some design and scale-up aspects of this type of reactor will be discussed in more detail. 

The most important choices in the design of batch reactors are reactor volume selection of the agitator speed of the agitator power consumption geometry of the tank, including baffles and heat exchange area (internal and external). 

A stirred-tank reactor is a cylindrical vessel with an elliptical or torospherical bottom and cover (1 — 100 m ). It is equipped with an axially mounted stirrer rotating at a speed ranging from 25 (large-scale reactor) to 1400 rpm (laboratory reactor). 

Proper agitator selection is very important to provide good contact between the phases. Firstly, the catalyst particles must be kept uniformly suspended in the reaction medium. When a gaseous reactant is used, agitation is of primary importance in facilitating the gas-to-liquid mass transfer. In addition, good agitation is needed for optimum temperature control. 

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