Laminar flow tube reactor

Additional modes consider special reaction conditions or enviromnents. The mode TUBE is designed for a laminar flow tube reactor (LFTR), which allows reactions between products but not between products and reactants. Consequently, these reactions are ignored in the TUBE mode. Another difference to MONOMOLEC is that special reaction kinetics is not particularly considered, since a turbulent flow in the tube reactor has similar kinetics to a stirred tank reactor. 

Flow systems in use may be classified as heated laminar tubes, or plug flow tube reactors, (PFTR) and burners, or heated turbulent flow reactors and well-stirred reactors, or continuous stirred-tank reactors, (CSTR). 

Suppose A + B — C with kajj = 2 in a laminar flow tubular reactor with unmixed feed. Component A with initial concentration Oju = 1 is injected at the center of the tube and component B with initial concentration fcin = 1 in injected in an annnlar ring between component A and the wall. The molar flow rates of A and B are eqnal so that the overall stoichiometry is perfect. Ignore hydrodynamic entrance effects and assume that the velocity profile is parabolic immediately after injection at location z = 0. 

Laminar-flow tubular reactors are occasionally used for bulk, continuous polymerizations. A monomer or monomer mixture is introduced at one end of the tube and, if all goes well, a high molecular weight polymer emerges at the other end. Practical problems arise from three types of instability ... 

Currently, one of the most developed, hence most illustrative, examples of practical application of SM is provided by the GRI-Mech project [1]. In its latest release, the GRI-Mech 3.0 dataset is comprised of 53 chemical species and 325 chemical reactions (with a combined set of 102 active variables), and 77 peer-reviewed, well-documented, widely trusted experimental observations obtained in high-quality laboratory measurements, carried out under different physical manifestations and different conditions (such as temperature, pressure, mixture composition, and reactor conhguration). The experiments have relatively simple geometry, leading to reliably modeled transport of mass, energy, and momentum. Typical experiments involve flow-tube reactors, stirred reactors, shock tubes, and laminar premixed flames, with outcomes such as ignition delay, flame speed, and various species concentration properties (location of a peak, peak value, relative peaks, etc.). 

Under some circumstances, the Dispersion model can be applied to laminar flow tubular reactors. If either 4Df/(Din) > O.BOorD/wDin < 1, the Dispersion number for laminar flow in long, empty tubes is given by... 

Flow in tubular reactors can be laminar, as with viscous fluids in small-diameter tubes, and greatly deviate from ideal plug-flow behavior, or turbulent, as with gases, and consequently closer to the ideal (Fig. 2). Turbulent flow generally is preferred to laminar flow, because mixing and heat transfer... 

The molecule diffuses across the tube and samples many streamlines, some with high velocity and some with low velocity, during its stay in the reactor. It will travel with an average velocity near u and will emerge from the long reactor with a residence time close to F. The axial dispersion model is a reasonable approximation for overall dispersion in a long, laminar flow reactor. The appropriate value for D is known from theory ... 

The pilot reactor is a tube in isothermal, laminar flow, and molecular diffusion is negligible. The larger reactor wiU have the same value for t and will remain in laminar flow. The residence time distribution will be unchanged by the scaleup. If diffusion in the small reactor did have an influence, it wiU lessen upon scaleup, and the residence time distribution will approach that for the diffusion-free case. This wiU hurt yield and selectivity. 

The reactor design is similar to conventional flow tubes(J7 ). The main difference is use of higher pressures and faster flow velocities. Both these quantities shift the flow conditions from laminar towards turbulent. To date all workers have interpreted their data using a plug flow approximation which is likely to be... 

A laminar-flow reactor (LFR) is rarely used for kinetic studies, since it involves a flow pattern that is relatively difficult to attain experimentally. However, the model based on laminar flow, a type of tubular flow, may be useful in certain situations, both in the laboratory and on a large scale, in which flow approaches this extreme (at low Re). Such a situation would involve low fluid flow rate, small tube size, and high fluid viscosity, either separately or in combination, as, for example, in the extrusion of high-molecular-weight polymers. Nevertheless, we consider the general features of an LFR at this stage for comparison with features of the other models introduced above. We defer more detailed discussion, including applications of the material balance, to Chapter 16. 

Example 2-6 Consider the situation where the reactants at constant density are fed continuously into a pipe of length L instead of a tank of volume V as in the batch reactor. The reactants react as they flow down the tube with a speed u, and we assume that they flow as a plug without mixing or developing the laminar flow profile. Show that the conversion of the reactants is exactly the same in these very different reactor configurations. 

We will now find the RDT for several models of tubular reactors. We noted previously that the perfect PFTR cannot in fact exist because, if flow in a tube is sufficiently fast for turbulence (Rco > 2100), then turbulent eddies cause considerable axial dispersion, while if flow is slow enough for laminar flow, then the parabolic flow profile causes considerable deviation from plug flow. We stated previously that we would ignore this contradiction, but now we will see how these effects alter the conversion from the plug-flow approximation. 

Figure S-4 Velocity profiles in a tube in plug-flow aid in laminar flow reactors.

In fact, the plug-flow approximation is even better than this calculation indicates because of radial mixing, which wiU occur in a laminar-flow reactor. A fluid molecule near the wall will flow with nearly zero velocity and have an infinite residence time, while a molecule near the center will flow with velocity 2u. However, the molecule near the wall will diffuse toward the center of the tube, and the molecule near the center will diffuse toward the wall, as shown in Figure 8-7. Thus the tail on the RTD will be smaller, and the spike at t/2 will be broadened. We will consider diffusion effects in the axial direction in the next section. 

The first termination step occurs homogeneously, while the second occurs by adsorption of R on the walls of the reactor. Formulate an expression for the rate of this reaction expected in a tube of diameter D with laminar flow (Shp = 8/3) and a diffusion coefficient Dr. What effective rate expressions are obtained in the limits of when... 

The flow patterns, composition profiles, and temperature profiles in a real tubular reactor can often be quite complex. Temperature and composition gradients can exist in both the axial and radial dimensions. Flow can be laminar or turbulent. Axial diffusion and conduction can occur. All of these potential complexities are eliminated when the plug flow assumption is made. A plug flow tubular reactor (PFR) assumes that the process fluid moves with a uniform velocity profile over the entire cross-sectional area of the reactor and no radial gradients exist. This assumption is fairly reasonable for adiabatic reactors. But for nonadiabatic reactors, radial temperature gradients are inherent features. If tube diameters are kept small, the plug flow assumption in more correct. Nevertheless the PFR can be used for many systems, and this idealized tubular reactor will be assumed in the examples considered in this book. We also assume that there is no axial conduction or diffusion. 

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