Reactor studies, system

Dimensional Analysis. Dimensional analysis can be helpful in analyzing reactor performance and developing scale-up criteria. Seven dimensionless groups used in generalized rate equations for continuous flow reaction systems are Hsted in Table 4. Other dimensionless groups apply in specific situations (58—61). Compromising assumptions are often necessary, and their vaHdation must be estabHshed experimentally or by analogy to previously studied systems. 

Work in the area of simultaneous heat and mass transfer has centered on the solution of equations such as 1—18 for cases where the stmcture and properties of a soHd phase must also be considered, as in drying (qv) or adsorption (qv), or where a chemical reaction takes place. Drying simulation (45—47) and drying of foods (48,49) have been particularly active subjects. In the adsorption area the separation of multicomponent fluid mixtures is influenced by comparative rates of diffusion and by interface temperatures (50,51). In the area of reactor studies there has been much interest in monolithic and honeycomb catalytic reactions (52,53) (see Exhaust control, industrial). Eor these kinds of appHcations psychrometric charts for systems other than air—water would be useful. The constmction of such has been considered (54). 

In this short initial communication we wish to describe a general purpose continuous-flow stirred-tank reactor (CSTR) system which incorporates a digital computer for supervisory control purposes and which has been constructed for use with radical and other polymerization processes. The performance of the system has been tested by attempting to control the MWD of the product from free-radically initiated solution polymerizations of methyl methacrylate (MMA) using oscillatory feed-forward control strategies for the reagent feeds. This reaction has been selected for study because of the ease of experimentation which it affords and because the theoretical aspects of the control of MWD in radical polymerizations has attracted much attention in the scientific literature. 

The time variations of the effluent tracer concentration in response to step and pulse inputs and the frequency-response diagram all contain essentially the same information. In principle, any one can be mathematically transformed into the other two. However, since it is easier experimentally to effect a change in input tracer concentration that approximates a step change or an impulse function, and since the measurements associated with sinusoidal variations are much more time consuming and require special equipment, the latter are used much less often in simple reactor studies. Even in the first two cases, one can obtain good experimental results only if the average residence time in the system is relatively long. 

Chemat et al. have reported several microwave reactors, including systems that can be used in tandem with other techniques such as sonication [68], and ultraviolet radiation [69]. With the microwave-ultrasound reactor, the esterification of acetic acid with n-propanol was studied along with the pyrolysis of urea. Improved results were claimed compared with those from conventional and microwave heating [68]. The efficacy of the microwave-UV reactor was demonstrated through the rearrangement of 2-benzoyloxyacetophenone to l-(2-hydroxyphenyl)-3-phenylpropan-l,3-dione [69]. 

Sirianuntapiboon S, Sansak J (2008) Treatability studies with granular activated carbon (GAC) and sequencing batch reactor (SBR) system for textile wastewater containing direct dyes. J Hazard Mater 159 404-411... 

The use of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to study flow patterns in reactors as well as to perform spatially resolved spectroscopy is reviewed by Lynn Gladden, Michael Mantle, and Andrew Sederman (University of Cambridge). This method allows even unsteady-state processes to be studied because of the rapid data acquisition pulse sequence methods that can now be used. In addition, MRI can be used to study systems with short nuclear spin relaxation times—e.g., to study coke distribution in catalytic reactors. 

High-temperature flow-reactor studies [60,61] on benzene oxidation revealed a sequence of intermediates that followed the order phenol, cyclopentadiene, vinyl acetylene, butadiene, ethene, and acetylene. Since the sampling techniques used in these experiments could not distinguish unstable species, the intermediates could have been radicals that reacted to form a stable compound, most likely by hydrogen addition in the sampling probe. The relative time order of the maximum concentrations, while not the only criterion for establishing a mechanism, has been helpful in the modeling of many oxidation systems [4,13]. 

In the reactors studied so far, we have shown the effects of variable holdups, variable densities, and higher-order kinetics on the total and component continuity equations. Energy equations were not needed because we assumed isothermal operations. Let us now consider a system in which temperature can change with time. An irreversible, exothermic reaction is carried out in a single perfectly mixed CSTR as shown in Fig. 3.3. 

One of the well-studied systems that illustrates this successive-bifurcation behavior is the Belousov-Zhabotinski reaction. Let me briefly show you the results of some experiments done at the University of Texas at Austin,8 referring for further details to the discussion by J. S. Turner in this volume. The experimental setup of the continuously stirred reactor... 

The dynamics and control of the reactor-column system studied in Chapter 2 (Section 2.9.3) are investigated in this section. Mathematical models of both the reactor and the column are developed, and a plantwide control structure is evaluated. 

The area of reactor design has been widely studied, and there are many excellent textbooks that cover this subject. Most of the emphasis in these books is on steady-state operation. Dynamics are also considered, but mostly from the mathematical standpoint (openloop instability, multiple steady states, and bifurcation analysis). The subject of developing effective stable closedloop control systems for chemical reactors is treated only very lightly in these textbooks. The important practical issues involved in providing reactor control systems that achieve safe, economic, and consistent operation of these complex units are seldom understood by both students and practicing chemical engineers. 

Such a development would parallel extensive experience in successful commercialization of many fixed-bed processes using similar catalysts and operating conditions. The five licensed processes using ZSM-5 catalyst fall in that category. The simplest fixed-bed MTG system was the one which employed dehydration and ZSM-5 reactors. This system was studied extensively in bench-scale units. These studies in a 3 cm diameter by 30-50 cm length reactors were considered to be sufficient for scale-up. 

For the studied system consisting of monoethanolamine, CO2 and water, experiments for the determination of reaction kinetics in a stirred-cell reactor have been carried out (see Section 9.4.5). These experiments yield the following Arrhenius expression for the second-order reaction (R18) (Fig. 9.18) ... 

The UMR process was studied in a pilot scale experimental system. A simplified schematic of the pilot scale system is shown in Figure 5. The pilot scale system consists of two packed bed reactors. The system was designed to produce 100 standard liters per minute of hydrogen, which is sufficient to generate 10 kW of electricity using a PEM fuel cell. 

The remaining classes of nuclear reactors range from zero-power, subcritical neutron sources for university training to large-scale reactor systems for plutonium-239 production. Portable reactors have provided heat, power, and water to U.S. bases in Alaska, Antarctica, and Panama. Private industry has operated various test reactors for reactor studies and radioisotope production. 

Reaction Studies in Trickle-Bed Reactors Reaction System... 

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