Batch reactor agitation

Scale- Up Agitated Vessels with Recycle Loops with Semi-Batch Feed to an In-Line Mixer in the Recycle Loop. Knight (1995) and Colleagues (1995) conducted a rather definitive study that determined the pertinent scale-up parameters for a static mixer in a recycle loop. They used a 20 liter semi-batch reactor agitated with... 

Figure 10.47. Yield data vs initial molar feed ratio for 3 Bourne Reaction occurring in a 1/4 inch (0.64 cm) Kenics Helical Element Mixer used on a recycle loop on 20 liter semi-batch reactor agitated with a 6BD impeller.

In a batch reactor, the reaclants are loaded at once the concentration then varies with time, but at any one time it is uniform throughout. Agitation seiwes to mix separate feeds initially and to enhance heat transfer. In a semibatch operation, some of the reactants are charged at once and the others are then charged gradually. 

Chapter 2 treated multiple and complex reactions in an ideal batch reactor. The reactor was ideal in the sense that mixing was assumed to be instantaneous and complete throughout the vessel. Real batch reactors will approximate ideal behavior when the characteristic time for mixing is short compared with the reaction half-life. Industrial batch reactors have inlet and outlet ports and an agitation system. The same hardware can be converted to continuous operation. To do this, just feed and discharge continuously. If the reactor is well mixed in the batch mode, it is likely to remain so in the continuous mode, as least for the same reaction. The assumption of instantaneous and perfect mixing remains a reasonable approximation, but the batch reactor has become a continuous-flow stirred tank. 

The pyrolysis of the plastics was carried out in a semi-batch reactor which was made of cylindrical stainless steel tube with 80mm in internal diameter and 135mm in height. A schematic diagram of the experimental apparatus is shown in Fig. 1, which includes the main reactor, temperature controller, agitator, condenser and analyzers. 

Stirred tank (agitated) reactors consist of a tank fitted with a mechanical agitator and a cooling jacket or coils. They are operated as batch reactors or continuously. Several reactors may be used in series. 

When fluid velocities are high relative to the solid, mass transfer is rapid. However, in stagnant regions or in batch reactors where no provision is made for agitation, one may encounter cases where mass transfer limits the observed reaction rate. We should also note that in industrial practice pressure drop constraints may make it impractical to employ the exceedingly high velocities necessary to overcome the mass transfer resistance associated with highly active catalysts. 

The key assumption on which the design analysis of a batch reactor is based is that the degree of agitation is sufficient to ensure that the composition and temperature of the contents are uniform throughout the reaction vessel. Under these conditions one may write the material... 

The alkylation of toluene with acetylene in the presence of sulphuric acid is carried out in a batch reactor. 6000 kg of toluene is charged in each batch, together with the required amount of sulphuric acid and the acetylene is fed continuously to the reactor under pressure. Under circumstances of intense agitation, it may be assumed that the liquid is always saturated with acetylene, and that the toluene is consumed in a simple pseudo first-order reaction with a rate constant of 0.0011 s-1. 

A batch reactor is an agitated vessel in which the reactants are precharged and which is then emptied after the reaction is completed. More frequently for exothermic reactions, only part of the reactants are charged initially, and the remaining reactants and catalysts are fed on a controlled basis this is called a semi-batch operation. For highly exothermic reactions and for two-phase (gas-liquid) reactions, loop reactors with resultant smaller volumes can be used. 

The factors that can affect the rate of heat transfer within a reactor are the speed and type of agitation, the type of heat transfer surface (coil or jacket), the nature of the reaction fluids (Newtonian or non-Newtonian), and the geometry of the vessel. Baffles are essential in agitated batch or semi-batch reactors to increase turbulence which affects the heat transfer rate as well as the reaction rates. For Reynolds numbers less than 1000, the presence of baffles may increase the heat transfer rate up to 35% [180]. 

Transient Holdup Profiles in an Agitated Extractor 459 Homogeneous Free-Radical Polymerisation 310 Batch Reactor Hydrolysis of Acetic Anhydride 247 Continuous Bioreactor with Inhibitory Substrate 543 Dynamic Oxygen Electrode 462... 

Use Patterson s equation to model the kinetic data. Furthermore, propose a design for the agitated batch reactor. 

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