Ex0 Questions Solutions

CHEM-E7150 Reaction Engineering
Exercises 0/2018
Summary of important issues that you should have in your mind before starting the
course.
Quiz based on these Exercises can be found in MyCourses. The quiz will help you to
check whether you have sufficient preliminary knowledge on this course.
Exercise 1: Design equation of CSTR
An irreversible elementary reaction takes place in an isothermal CSTR in liquid-phase:
2A→B
The reaction rate constant at the studied conditions is 5 l/(mol min). The molar feed of
component A to the system is 1 mol/s and the concentration of A in the feed is 1 mol/l.
What is the volume of the reactor if the targeted conversion is 75%?
a. 2l
b. 36 l
c. 144 l
d. 9l
Solution
The design equation for the CSTR:
The rate equation for the elementary reaction 2 A → B is
∙ ∙ 1
The rate equation is substituted in the design equation
∙ ∙ 1
1 ∙ 0.75 0
144
5 60 ∙ 1 ∙ 1 0.75
Exercise 2: Design equation of batch reactor
A second order reaction A → B takes place in the liquid phase in a batch reactor. The
initial concentration of the reactant A is 2.0 mol/l and the reaction rate constant at the
studied conditions is 1.0 l/(mol h).
What is the required reaction time to achieve conversion of 0.8?
a) 0.4 h
b) 1.6 h
c) 2.0 h
d) 10 h
Solution
The design equation for batch reactor is
The reaction rate equation for the second order reaction is
and concentration CA is
Combining these gives
Rearranging gives
1
1
1
1
Useful integrals are presented in the course book Appendix A1
1 1 0.8
2
1 1.0 ∙ 2.0 / 1 0.8

Exercise 3: Design equation of PFR with a change in number of moles in a gas

phase reaction
Gas-phase first order dehydrogenation reaction of ethylbenzene into styrene
ethylbenzene (g)  styrene (g) + H2 (g)
was studied in plug flow reactor (PFR) at 600 °C. The molar feed rate of ethylbenzene was
1 mol/s with concentration of 2 mol/dm3. The reaction rate constant is 0.1 s-1 at the
reaction temperature.
What is the volume of the reactor if the target conversion is 90%?
a. 95 l
b. 19 l
c. 4.5 l
d. 12 l
Solution
For the plug flow reactor, the design equation is
The rate equation for the first order gas-phase reaction A → B + C is
In a gas-phase reaction, change in number of moles with the reaction has to be taken into
account! Now, when the reaction takes place more moles are formed than consumed. This
results in increase in volumetric flow, which has to be taken into account. Now the
concentration of A is denoted as
1
1 ∙
where  is the parameter which takes the chance in the number of moles into account.  is
determined with the initial molar fraction of component A in the feed, yA0, and  which is
the sum of stoichiometric coefficients of products minus the sum of stoichiometric
coefficients of reactants according to
∙ 1∙ 1 1 1 1
Let’s substitute all these in the design equation
1
1 1
1
Useful integrals are presented in the course book Appendix A1

1 1 1
1 ln ∙ 2 ∙ ln 1 ∙ 0.9 19
1 1 1 0.9
0.1 ∙ 2
Exercise 4: Arrhenius equation, linearization
Etherification of isoamylenes (2-methyl-1-butene and 2-methyl-2-butene) with ethanol over

Amberlyst15 catalyst was studied and a following data was measured for reaction rate
constant as a function of temperature. Determine the parameters of the Arrhenius
equation.
T (°C) 50 55 60 65 70 75 80
k·10-3 (s-1) 0.242 0.352 0.469 0.915 1.218 1.805 2.632
a. A = 9.3·10-16 1/s and E = 0 kJ/mol

b. A = 6.7·108 1/s and E = 77 kJ/mol
c. A = 0 1/s and E = 0 kJ/mol
d. A = 1.3·10-1 1/s and E = 3 kJ/mol
Solution
Arrhenius equation describes the temperature dependency of the reaction

∙
Linearization of the Arrhenius equation:

∙
→ ln ln ∙
→ ln ln ln
1
→ ln ln ∙
Which corresponds to (y = kx+a). From the data: x = 1/T and y = ln k
1 3.096 3.049 3.003 2.959 2.915 2.874 2.833

 103
T/K
ln[k/(s-1)] -8.327 -7.952 -7.665 -6.997 -6.711 -6.317 -5.940
1
ln 20.324 9271.3 ∙
Comparing the equations gives us:

1
ln ln ∙
ln 20.324
1
→ 6.7 ∙ 10
and
9271.3
→ 8.314 ∗ 9271.3 77
Exercise 5: Reaction mechanism
Derive the reaction rate equation for the decomposition of ozone according to the following
mechanism. Apply pseudo-steady state hypothesis (PSSH) for the reactive intermediate
(O).
O3 ↔ O2 + O
O3 + O  2 O2
In which conditions the decomposition of ozone can be estimated to be of first order with
respect to ozone?
a. With high partial pressures of oxygen

b. With low partial pressures of oxygen
c. With high partial pressures of ozone
d. With low partial pressures of ozone
Solution
Each of the reactions in the mechanism can be assumed to be elementary reactions.
Write rate equations for each species. Note that the components are present in multiple
steps.
We rewrite the equations so that each of the three reactions are separated
→ (1)
→ (2)
→ 2 (3)
The decomposition rate for ozone: ozone is present in all three reactions, thus for O3
(4)
As the concentration of the intermediate O cannot be measured, it has to be eliminated in

the equation.
Elimination of the concentration of the intermediate O is done by applying the pseudo steady
state hypothesis (PSSH) and setting the formation rate of the intermediate O to zero
0 (5)
Now we can define the concentration of the O species from this equation
(6)
This is further substituted to the equation (4) and reduced
Reaction is first-order with respect to ozone, when the partial pressure of oxygen is low:
the rate law becomes
2
′

Ex0 Questions Solutions

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Ex0 Questions Solutions

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Ex0 Questions Solutions

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

CHEM-E7150 Reaction Engineering

Exercise 1: Design equation of CSTR

An irreversible elementary reaction takes place in an isothermal CSTR in liquid-phase:

What is the volume of the reactor if the targeted conversion is 75%?

The design equation for the CSTR:

The rate equation for the elementary reaction 2 A → B is

The rate equation is substituted in the design equation

Exercise 2: Design equation of batch reactor

What is the required reaction time to achieve conversion of 0.8?

The design equation for batch reactor is

The reaction rate equation for the second order reaction is

Combining these gives

Exercise 3: Design equation of PFR with a change in number of moles in a gas

Gas-phase first order dehydrogenation reaction of ethylbenzene into styrene

ethylbenzene (g)  styrene (g) + H2 (g)

What is the volume of the reactor if the target conversion is 90%?

For the plug flow reactor, the design equation is

The rate equation for the first order gas-phase reaction A → B + C is

Let’s substitute all these in the design equation

Useful integrals are presented in the course book Appendix A1

Exercise 4: Arrhenius equation, linearization

Etherification of isoamylenes (2-methyl-1-butene and 2-methyl-2-butene) with ethanol over

a. A = 9.3·10-16 1/s and E = 0 kJ/mol

Arrhenius equation describes the temperature dependency of the reaction

Linearization of the Arrhenius equation:

Which corresponds to (y = kx+a). From the data: x = 1/T and y = ln k

1 3.096 3.049 3.003 2.959 2.915 2.874 2.833

Comparing the equations gives us:

a. With high partial pressures of oxygen

Each of the reactions in the mechanism can be assumed to be elementary reactions.

As the concentration of the intermediate O cannot be measured, it has to be eliminated in

You might also like