2.

0 INTRODUCTION
Chemical kinetics and reactor design are important in producing almost all
industrial chemcals. The key to the success or the failure of a chemical plant is based
on the selection of a reaction system that operates in the safest and most efficiency
way. Reactor is the equipment that changes the raw materials into the products that
needed. The good r eactor is a reactor that will give a high production and
economical. There are many types of reactor, and one of it is a continuous-flow
stirred-tank reactor.
Continuous-flow stirred-tank reactor, CSTR is an equipment where the
reactants and the products are continuously added and withdrawn. It is also known
as vat- or backmix reactor. In order to achieve temperature and uniform composition,
the equipment needed is mechanical or hydraullic agitation. Analysis of selected
combinations of these reactor types can be useful in quantitatively evaluating more
complex gas, liquid and solid-flow behaviours.

Figure 1: continuous stirred tank reactor (a) with agitator and internal heat transfer
surface, (b) with pump around mixing and external heat transfer surface
The reaction driving forces, usually the reactant concentrations, are
necessarily low due to the composition of mixtures leaving CSTR are those in the
reactor. Therefore, CSTR need the largest volume of the reactor types to obtain
desired conversions, except for reaction orders zero- and negative.

However, the low driving forces makes possible better control of rapid
exothermic and endothermic reactions. If heat is evolved due to exothermic reaction,
a coolant stream is required to pass through the jacket or coil to remove the extra
heat. On the other hand, the flow of heating medium is passing through jacket or coil
to maintain the reactio temperature, if endothermic reaction occurs in the system.
Several CSTRs in series can be used when high conversions of reactants are
needed. Equally good results can be obtained by dividing a single vessel into
compartments while minimizing back-mixing and short-circuiting. The closer the
performance approaches that of a tubular plug-flow reactor when the number of
CSTR stages is large.

4.0 THEORY
The continuous stirred tank reactor or back mix reactor is a very common
processing unit in chemical and polymer industry. Its names suggest, it is a reactor in
which the contents are well stirred and uniform throughout. The CSTR is normally run
at steady state, and usually quite well mixed. The CSTR is generally modeled as
having no spatial variations in concentrations, temperature, or reaction rate
throughout the vessel. Since the temperature and concentration are identical
everywhere within the reaction vessel, they are the same at the exits point as they
are elsewhere in the tank.

Figure 1 : The Continuous Stirred-Tank Reactor

Assumptions in CSTR:
1) Operate at steady state therefore,

(Steady state is a situation, in which all the state variables remain constant despite
parallel processes trying to change them.)

2) Well mixed therefore rA is the same throughout the reactor,

3) Rearranging the generation

4) In terms of conversion

Reactor Sizing
Given rA as a function of conversion, -r A = f(X), one can size any type of reactor. It
can be done by constructing a Levenspiel Plot which FAo / -r A or 1 / -rA as a function
of X. For FAo / -rA vs. X, the volume of a CSTR can be represented as the shaded
area in the Levenspiel Plots shown below:

Figure 2: The plot of CSTR volume

Effect of temperature on rate of reaction

Increasing the temperature can cause the rate of reaction also increase. An increase
of 10oC typically doubles the rate of a reaction. In a chemical reaction, at low
temperatures the molecules collide with each other, but bounce apart. If, however,
molecules collide at high temperatures, bonds may be broken and new are
molecules formed. Collision theory states that three conditions must be met for a
reaction to occur:

Molecules must collide with one another

Molecules must have the right orientation

Molecules must have sufficient energy

Every reaction has an energy barrier. The fact that a reaction increases with
increasing temperature suggests that only molecules with sufficient energy are able
to react. The energy barrier or minimum energy a molecule must possess to
overcome this barrier is called activation energy (Ea) which is can be shown in
Arrhenius Law Equation:

k = A * e-Ea/RT

Ea = The activation energy

R = The gas constant

T = Temperature in Kelvin

A = Frequency factor constant or also known as pre-exponential factor or

= The rate constant

Arrhenius factor.

5.0 APPARATUS
1) Continuous-stirred Tank Reactor (Model: BP100)
2) Conical flask
3) 50 mL burette

otor stirrer
Control Panel

CSTR

V1
Drain valve

4) 100 mL measuring cylinder

5) 0.25 M hydrochloric acid
6) 0.1 M sodium hydroxide
7) 0.1 M ethyl acetate
8) Phenolphthalein

V2

Figure 2: Continuous-stirred Tank Reactor (model: BP100)