Reactors, agitated tank batch

The reactor, an agitated tank, operates under a pressure of 1.5 kN/m2 (15 bar) and at 433 K (160°C). It is charged with a batch of 0.06 m3 of o-xylene and air introduced at the rate of 0.0015 m3/s (5.4 m3/h) measured at reactor conditions. The air is dispersed into small bubbles whose mean diameter is estimated from a photograph to be 0.8 mm, and from level sensors in the reactor, the volume of the dispersion produced is found to be 0.088 m3. Soon after the start of the reaction (before any appreciable conversion of the o-xylene) the gas leaving the reactor is analysed (after removal of condensibles) and found to consist of 0.045 mole fraction O2, 0.955 mole fraction N2. 

Agitated tank reactors Batch agitated reactor This is a batch stirred tank reactor. For liquid-solid systems, the liquid is agitated by a mechanical apparatus (impeller) and the reactor is of tank shape. For gas-solid systems, the gas is agitated and rapidly circulated through a fixed-bed of solids. This reactor is basically an experimental one used for adsorption, ion exchange, and catalysis studies. 

In connection with the engineering content of the book, a large number of reactors is analyzed two- and three-phase (slurry) agitated reactors (batch and continuous flow), two-and three-phase fixed beds (fixed beds, trickle beds, and packed bubble beds), three-phase (slurry) bubble columns, and two-phase fluidized beds. All these reactors are applicable to catalysis two-phase fixed and fluidized beds and agitated tank reactors concern adsorption and ion exchange as well. 

Batch reactors are tanks, usually provided with agitation and some mode of heat transfer to maintain temperature within a desirable range. They are primarily employed for relatively slow reactions of several hours duration, since tlie downtime for filling and emptying large equipment may be an hour or so. Agitation maintains uniformity and improves heat transfer. Modes of heat transfer are illustrated in Figs. 23-1 and 23-2. 

A reactor where mixing is important is the tank flow or continuously stirred tank reactor (CSTR) it is also referred to as a back-mix reactor. This type of reactor, like the batch reactor, essentially consists of a tank or kettle equipped with an agitator. 

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 In a continuous-flow stirred-tank reactor (CSTR), reactants and products are continuously added and withdrawn.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. 

Various reactor combinations are used. For example, the product from a relatively low solids batch-mass reactor may be transferred to a suspension reactor (for HIPS), press (for PS), or unagitated batch tower (for PS) for finishing. In a similar fashion, the effluent from a continuous stirred tank reactor (CSTR) may be transferred to a tubular reactor or an unagitated or agitated tower for further polymerization before devolatilization. 

Chapter 2 treated multiple and complex reactions in an ideal batch reactor. The reactor was ideal in the sense that mixing was assumed to be instantaneous and complete throughout the vessel. Real batch reactors will approximate ideal behavior when the characteristic time for mixing is short compared with the reaction half-life. Industrial batch reactors have inlet and outlet ports and an agitation system. The same hardware can be converted to continuous operation. To do this, just feed and discharge continuously. If the reactor is well mixed in the batch mode, it is likely to remain so in the continuous mode, as least for the same reaction. The assumption of instantaneous and perfect mixing remains a reasonable approximation, but the batch reactor has become a continuous-flow stirred tank. 

A real continuous-flow stirred tank will approximate a perfectly mixed CSTR provided that tmix h/i and tmix i. Mixing time correlations are developed using batch vessels, but they can be applied to flow vessels provided the ratio of throughput to circulatory flow is small. This idea is explored in Section 4.5.3 where a recycle loop reactor is used as a model of an internally agitated vessel. 

Stirred tank (agitated) reactors consist of a tank fitted with a mechanical agitator and a cooling jacket or coils. They are operated as batch reactors or continuously. Several reactors may be used in series. 

For the semi-batch stirred tank reactor, the model was based on the following assumptions the reactor is well agitated, so no concentration differences appear in the bulk of the liquid gas-liquid and liquid-solid mass transfer resistances can prevail and finally, the liquid phase is in batch, while hydrogen is continuously fed into the reactor. The hydrogen pressure is maintained constant. The liquid and gas volumes inside the reactor vessel can be regarded as constant, since the changes of the fluid properties due to reaction are minor. The total pressure of the gas phase (P) as well as the reactor temperature were continuously monitored and stored on a PC. The partial pressure of hydrogen (pnz) was calculated from the vapour pressure of the solvent (pvp) obtained from Antoine s equation (pvpo) and Raoult s law ... 

---