Stirred Tanks and Reactor Combinations

Chapter 2 treated multiple and complex reactions in an ideal batch reactor. The reactor is ideal in the sense that mixing is 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 to the reaction half-life. Industrial batch reactors have inlet and outlet ports, pumps, and an agitation system. The same hardware is easily converted to continuous operation. Just feed and discharge continuously. If the reactor is well mixed in the batch mode, it is likely to remain well mixed in the continuous mode, at least for the same reaction. The assumption of instantaneous and perfect mixing remains a reasonable approximation, but the batch reactor has become a CSTR. 

This chapter develops the techniques needed to analyze multiple and complex reactions in CSTRs. Physical properties may be variable. Also treated is the common industrial practice of using reactor combinations, such as a stirred tank in series with a tubular reactor, to accomplish the overall reaction. 

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Chapter 4 Stirred Tanks and Reactor Combinations SOLUTION The exit concentration from the perfect mixer is... 

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