Continuous Production-Plug Flow Reactors

Batch production is not compatible with the steady-state processes we designed in Chapter 2. We could insert a surge tank after a batch reactor, as was shown for citric 

Chemical engineering students take a course entitled reaction engineering during their junior year this course teaches both analytical and graphical methods for designing plug flow reactors for complex reaction kinetics and heterogeneous physical systems. 

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Multiple reactions in parallel producing byproducts. Consider again the system of parallel reactions from Eqs. (2.16) and (2.17). A batch or plug-flow reactor maintains higher average concentrations of feed (Cfeed) than a continuous well-mixed reactor, in which the incoming feed is instantly diluted by the PRODUCT and... 

In general terms, if the reaction to the desired product has a higher order than the byproduct reaction, use a batch or plug-flow reactor. If the reaction to the desired product has a lower order than the byproduct reaction, use a continuous well-mixed reactor. 

Continuous-Flow Stirred-Tank Reactor. In a continuous-flow stirred-tank reactor (CSTR), reactants and products are continuously added and withdrawn. In practice, mechanical or hydrauHc agitation is required to achieve uniform composition and temperature, a choice strongly influenced by process considerations, ie, multiple specialty product requirements and mechanical seal pressure limitations. The CSTR is the idealized opposite of the weU-stirred batch and tubular plug-flow reactors. Analysis of selected combinations of these reactor types can be useful in quantitatively evaluating more complex gas-, Hquid-, and soHd-flow behaviors. 

Plug Flow Reactor (PFR) A plug flow reactor is a tubular reactor where the feed is continuously introduced at one end and the products continuously removed from the other end. The concentration/temperature profile in the reactor varies with position. 

The alternative to batch mode operation is continuous operation. In the continuous mode there is a continuous flow of medium into the fermentor and of product stream out of the fermentor. Continuous bioprocesses often use homogenously mixed whole cell suspensions. However, immobilised cell or enzyme processes generally operate in continuous plug flow reactors, without mixing (see Figure 2.1, packed-bed reactors). 

In this work we present results obtained with the YSZ reactor operated in the hatch mode with electrochemical oxygen addition, and with the quartz plug flow reactor operated in the continuous-flow steady-state mode. In the case of continuous flow operation, the molecular sieve trap comprised two packed bed units in parallel in a swing-bed arrangement (Fig. 1), that is, one unit was maintained at low temperature (<70°C) to continuously trap the reactor products while the other was heated for -30 min to 300°C to release the products in a slow stream of He. 

If the process is carried out in a stirred batch reactor (SBR) or in a plug-flow reactor (PFR) the final product will always be the mixture of both products, i.e. the selectivity will be less than one. Contrary to this, the selectivity in a continuous stirred-tank reactor (CSTR) can approach one. A selectivity equal to one, however, can only be achieved in an infinite time. In order to reach a high selectivity the mean residence time must be very long, and, consequently, the productivity of the reactor will be very low. A compromise must be made between selectivity and productivity. This is always a choice based upon economics. 

Consecutive reactions, isothermal reactor cmi < cw2, otai = asi = 0. The course of reaction is shown in Fig. 5.4-71. Regardless the mode of operation, the final product after infinite time is always the undesired product S. Maximum yields of the desired product exist for non-complete conversion. A batch reactor or a plug-flow reactor performs better than a CSTR Ysbr.wux = 0.63, Ycstriiuix = 0.445 for kt/ki = 4). If continuous operation and intense mixing are needed (e.g. because a large inteifacial surface area or a high rate of heat transfer are required) a cascade of CSTRs is recommended. 

Neither B nor the undesirable products are present in the feedstream. Determine the maximum yields of B that can be obtained in the limit where the conversion level approaches 100% for both a plug flow reactor and a continuous flow stirred tank reactor. 

Continuous reactor a reactor characterized by a continuous flow of reactants into and a continuous flow of products from the reaction system examples are the plug flow reactor (PFR) and the continuous stirred tank reactor (CSTR). 

Plug flow reactor (PFR) a tube reactor in which the reactants are fed continuously at one end and the products are removed continuously from the other end concentration and heat generation change along the length of the tube the PFR is often used for potentially hazardous reactions because of the relatively small inventory in the system. 

The CRE approach for modeling chemical reactors is based on mole and energy balances, chemical rate laws, and idealized flow models.2 The latter are usually constructed (Wen and Fan 1975) using some combination of plug-flow reactors (PFRs) and continuous-stirred-tank reactors (CSTRs). (We review both types of reactors below.) The CRE approach thus avoids solving a detailed flow model based on the momentum balance equation. However, this simplification comes at the cost of introducing unknown model parameters to describe the flow rates between various sub-regions inside the reactor. The choice of a particular model is far from unique,3 but can result in very different predictions for product yields with complex chemistry. 

These findings differ from ordinary nth-order reactions (n > 0) where the plug flow reactor is always more efficient than the mixed flow reactor. In addition, we should note that a plug flow reactor will not operate at all with a feed of pure reactant. In such a situation the feed must be continually primed with product, an ideal opportunity for using a recycle reactor. 

Abbreviations CSTR, continuous stirred-tank reactor EIM, environmental impact minimization NP, non-products PEI, potential environmental impact PFR, plug-flow reactor... 

Church, J. and Woolbridge, D., Continuous high solids acid hydrolysis of biomass in a 1.5 in plug flow reactor. Industrial Engineering and Chemistry Product Research and development 1981, 20, 371-378. 

While the adiabatic batch reactor is important and presents many control issues in its own right, we are concerned here primarily with continuous systems. We consider in detail two distinct reactor types the continuous stirred tank reactor (CSTRj and the plug-flow reactor. They differ fundamentally in the way the reactants and the products... 

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