Reactors for Series-Parallel Reaction Networks

It is more difficult to develop general guidelines regarding the selection and design of a reactor for a series-parallel reaction network than for a parallel-reaction or a series-reaction network separately. It is still necessary to take into account the relative 

The analysis includes various steps to assess the interrelationships of the various factors to be taken into account. This is the same type of analysis carried out in reactor design to this point, but it is reiterated here because of the greater complexity involved, which usually requires numerical methods far solution of the working equations developed, rather than analytical methods. A list of steps is as follows  

An illustration of a series-parallel network is provided by the step-change polymerization kinetics model of Section 7.3.2. The following example continues the application of this model to steady-state operation of a CSTR. 

For step-change polymerization at steady-state in a CSTR represented by the kinetics model in Section 7.3.2, derive equations giving the weight fraction of r-mer, wr, on a monomer-free basis, as a function of r, the number of monomer units in polymer Pr at the reactor outlet. This is a measure of the distribution of polymers in the product leaving the reactor. 

The dimensionless second-order reaction number, from equation 4.34, with T = t (constant density), is 

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