Chemical Engineering Department, Manhattan College

CHML 321: Chemical Reaction Engineering, Spring 2019

Homework 1: Due in class at 9:30 AM on Thursday, 2/7/2019

Name:

1) The exothermic reaction (A  B + C) was carried out adiabatically and the following data
were recorded:

XA 0.00 0.20 0.40 0.45 0.50 0.60 0.8 0.9

–rA (mol/L.min) 1.0 1.67 5.0 5.0 5.0 5.0 1.25 0.91

The entering molar flowrate of A was 300 mol/min

a) What are the PFR and CSTR volumes necessary to achieve 40% conversion?
b) What is the maximum conversion that can be achieved in a 105-L CSTR?
c) What conversion can be achieved if a 72-L PFR is followed in series by a 24-L CSTR?
d) What conversion can be achieved if a 24-L CSTR is followed in a series by a 72-L PFR?
e) Plot the conversion and rate of reaction as a function of PFR reactor volume up to a volume of
100 L.

Note: Feel free to use and modify any one of the two Matlab scripts posted on Moodle. You may
also use another program of your choice.

2) The liquid-phase reaction A  B is to be carried out isothermally in a continuous-flow reactor.

The entering volumetric flow rate v0 is 10 L/h. Calculate both the CSTR and PFR reactor
volumes necessary to consume 99% of A when the entering molar flow rate is 5 mol/h,
assuming the reaction rate (–rA) is
(a) (–rA) = k with k = 0.05 mol/(L.h)
(b) (–rA)= kCA with k = 0.0001 s–1
(c) (–rA) = kCA2 with k = 300 L/(mol⋅h)
(d) Repeat (c) to calculate the time necessary to consume 99.9% of species A in a 1000-L
constant-volume batch reactor with CA0 = 0.5 mol/L.

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 Chemical Engineering Department, Manhattan College

%CSTR followed by PFR followed by CSTR. Information entered by

user for
%adiabatic reaction A-->B (Example 2-5 in the textbook [5th
edition])
X_A = [0.00 0.20 0.40 0.60 0.65];
neg_rA = [39 53 59 38 25];%kmol/(m3.h)
FA0 = 50;%kmol/h
X1 = 0.2;%At outlet of CSTR#1
X2 = 0.6;%At outlet of PFR
X3 = 0.65;%At outlet of CSTR#2

figure(1)
%Levenspiel plot
L=FA0./neg_rA;%m3
plot(X_A,L,'-ro');
title('Levenspiel plot')
xlabel('Conversion, X_A')
ylabel('F_A_0/(-r_A) [m^3]')
axis([0 0.7 0 2.5]);
axis square

%CSTR#1 sizing
V1=interp1(X_A,L,X1);
VolumeCSTR1=V1.*X1;%m3

%PFR sizing
VolPFR = cumtrapz(X_A,L);
VolumePFR = interp1(X_A,VolPFR,X2)-interp1(X_A,VolPFR,X1);
A=[X_A;VolPFR];

%CSTR#2 sizing
V2=interp1(X_A,L,X3);
VolumeCSTR2=V2.*(X3-X2);%m3

%Write answers to text file

fileID = fopen('Reactor_sizing2.txt','w');
fprintf(fileID,'For conversion of A at outlet = %0.2f,\r\n',X1);
fprintf(fileID,'the volume of CSTR #1 is %0.3f
m^3\r\n',VolumeCSTR1);
fprintf(fileID,'____________________________\r\n');
fprintf(fileID,'For conversion of A at outlet = %0.2f,\r\n',X2);
fprintf(fileID,'the volume of PFR is %0.3f m^3\r\n',VolumePFR);
fprintf(fileID,'____________________________\r\n');
fprintf(fileID,'For conversion of A at outlet = %0.2f,\r\n',X3);
fprintf(fileID,'the volume of CSTR #2 is %0.3f
m^3\r\n',VolumeCSTR2);
fprintf(fileID,'____________________________\r\n');
fclose(fileID);

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