Chemical Reactor Flow Structure Characteristics

Detailed descriptions of the chemical reactor flow patterns are given in Chaps. 8,10, 7 and 11 Meanwhile, a preliminary overview of the pertinent reactor flow characteristics is given to determine which modeling concepts are available describing the behavior of the relevant flows. 

Typical multiphase flow regimes identified in general gas-liquid and gas-solid flows in vertical and horizontal tubes are illustrated in Fig. 3.1. 

Examples of typical reactor flows are listed belows  

In addition to the complex flow structure encountered in these reactor systems, typically one has to deal with component and energy transport within the individual phases and momentum, heat and mass transfer both between the various phases and 

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Reactions in multiphase processes occur at an interface. The chemical properties of the interface give rise to kinetic processes such as adsorption and surface reaction, and kinetic parameters are characteristics of these processes. Kinetic parameters provide a quantitative link between the rate of a reaction, the temperature, and the chemical properties of the interface. The degree to which experimentally determined kinetic parameters can be related to the composition and structure of the interface depends on the interface and the experimental approach. There are three main experimental approaches, experiments in flow reactors, surface science experiments, and a newer approach, the Temporal Analysis of Products (TAP) approach which combines elements of the both flow reactors and surface science techniques. 

The aim of the present study is to provide theoretical and numerical support for the recent experimental observations of sustained dissipative structures in the Couette flow reactor. Our goal is actually to demonstrate that the experimental chemical front patterns observed in this open reactor can be described by a reaction-diffusion process and to show that the observations are characteristic of a wide class of systems. More generally, we wish to identify the main ingredients required for a pattern formation and to develop a theoretical analysis of the bifurcations that produce those dissipative front structures. 

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