Earliness of Mixing, Segregation and RTD

These two concepts are intertwined with the concept of RTD, so it becomes rather difficult to understand their interaction. Please reread the first few pages of Chapter 11 where these concepts are introduced and discussed. 

In this chapter we first treat systems in which a single fluid is reacting. Then we treat systems in which two fluids are contacted and reacted. 

1 SELF-MKING OF A SINGLE FLUID Degree of Segregation 

The normally accepted state of a liquid or gas is that of a microfluid, and all previous discussions on homogeneous reactions have been based on the assumption. Let us now consider a single reacting macrofluid being processed in turn in batch, plug flow, and mixed flow reactors, and let us see how this state of aggregation can result in behavior different from that of a microfluid. 

Batch Reactor. Let the batch reactor be filled with a macrofluid containing reactant A. Since each aggregate or packet of macrofluid acts as its own little batch reactor, conversion is the same in all aggregates and is in fact identical to what would be obtained with a microfluid. Thus for batch operations the degree of segregation does not affect conversion or product distribution. 

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Chapter 16 Earliness of Mixing, Segregation, and RTD Thus Eq. 3 becomes... 

Effect of conversion level. At low conversion levels is insensitive to RTD, earliness of mixing, and segregation. At intermediate conversion levels, the RTD begins to influence Xp however, earliness and segregation still have little effect. This is the case of Example 16.1. Finally, at high conversion levels all these factors may play important roles. 

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