Reactor performance single reactions

So far, consideration has been limited to chemistry physical constraints such as heat transfer may also dictate the way in which reactions are performed. Oxidation reactions are highly exothermic and effectively there are only two types of reactor in which selective oxidation can be achieved on a practical scale multitubular fixed bed reactors with fused salt cooling on the outside of the tubes and fluid bed reactors. Each has its own characteristics and constraints. Multitubular reactors have an effective upper size limit and if a plant is required which is too large to allow the use of a single reactor, two reactors must be used in parallel. 

Example 4.10 Consider a reactor train consisting of a CSTR followed by a piston flow reactor. The total volume and flow rate are fixed. Can series combination offer a performance advantage compared with a single reactor if the reaction is autocatalytic The reaction is... 

In this chapter we deal with single reactions. These are reactions whose progress can be described and followed adequately by using one and only one rate expression coupled with the necessary stoichiometric and equilibrium expressions. For such reactions product distribution is fixed hence, the important factor in comparing designs is the reactor size. We consider in turn the size comparison of various single and multiple ideal reactor systems. Then we introduce the recycle reactor and develop its performance equations. Finally, we treat a rather unique type of reaction, the autocatalytic reaction, and show how to apply our findings to it. 

The preceding chapter on single reactions showed that the performance (size) of a reactor was influenced by the pattern of flow within the vessel. In this and the next chapter, we extend the discussion to multiple reactions and show that for these, both the size requirement and the distribution of reaction products are affected by the pattern of flow within the vessel. We may recall at this point that the distinction between a single reaction and multiple reactions is that the single reaction requires only one rate expression to describe its kinetic behavior whereas multiple reactions require more than one rate expression. 

In this chapter we consider the performance of isothermal batch and continuous reactors with multiple reactions. Recall that for a single reaction the single differential equation describing the mass balance for batch or PETR was always separable and the algebraic equation for the CSTR was a simple polynomial. In contrast to single-reaction systems, the mathematics of solving for performance rapidly becomes so complex that analytical solutions are not possible. We will first consider simple multiple-reaction systems where analytical solutions are possible. Then we will discuss more complex systems where we can only obtain numerical solutions. 

Lately, a number of papers have dealt with microwave-assisted reactions on palladium-doped A1203. Villemin reported on Stifle, Suzuki, Heck and Trost—Tsuji reactions where potassium fluoride on alumina was used as the base26. The reactions were carried out without solvent or stabilising phosphine ligands in single-mode reactors. The Stifle reactions were noteworthy as the toxic organotin residue remained adsorbed on the solid support, thus allowing a simplified work-up procedure for the otherwise unpleasant, and toxic, stannous by-products. Both the Stifle and the Suzuki reactions could be performed under air. Furthermore, it was noted that with experiments where the... 

Performing a reaction under isothermal conditions is somewhat more complex. It requires two temperature probes, one for the measurement of the reaction mass temperature and a second for the jacket temperature. Depending on the internal reactor temperature, the jacket temperature is adjustable. The simplest method is to use a single heat carrier circuit to act either on the flow rate of cooling water or on the steam valve. With a secondary heat carrier circulation loop, the temperature controller acts directly on the heating and cooling valves by using a conventional... 

The most powerful approaches, which can be used with several different enzyme systems, lead to a single enantiomer as the product in high yield and do not rely on a classic resolution approach in which the unwanted enantiomer is discarded. These approaches include dynamic kinetic resolutions, der-acemizations, and asymmetric and desymmetrization reactions (49, 50). In some cases, a chemical catalyst may be available to recycle the unwanted isomer in the same reactor vide infra). It is sometimes possible to racemize the unwanted isomer of the substrate and then to perform the reaction again (51). 

As illustrated above, dispersion models can be used to described reactor behavior over the entire range of mixing from PFR to CSTR. Additionally, the models are not confined to single-phase, isothermal conditions or first-order, reaction-rate functions. Thus, these models are very general and, as expected, have found widespread use. What must be kept in mind is that as far as reactor performance is normally concerned, radial dispersion is to be maximized while axial dispersion is minimized. 

In terms of catalysis, important equilibrium processes include low-temperature gas adsorption (capillary condensation) and nonwetting fluid invasion, both of which are routinely used to characterize pore size distribution. Static diffusion in a Wicke-Kallenbach cell characterizes effective diffusivity. The simultaneous rate processes of diffusion and reaction determine catalyst effectiveness, which is the single most significant measure of practical catalytic reactor performance. 

In Example 5-3 the temperature and conversion leaving the reactor were obtained by simultaneous solution of the mass and energy balances. The results for each temperature in Table 5-7 represented such a solution and corresponded to a diiferent reactor, i.e., a different reactor volume. However, the numerical trial-and-error solution required for this multiple-reaction system hid important features of reactor behavior. Let us therefore reconsider the performance of a stirred-tank reactor for a simple single-reaction system. 

We see that these two mMng limits do not bound the performance of the actual reactor sequence with the given RTD, In fact, they are off by more than 20%. Even with a single reaction, if the rate expression is neither convex nor concave, we cannot bound the performance of an actual reactor between the segregated and maximally mixed rnixing. limits, o... 

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