1

NON IDEAL REACTORS

or some useful tricks to model real reactors..
Todays lecture
Non ideal reactors real reactors..
Residence times and residence time distributions
Step response and pulse responses
E(t) och F(t)
Mixing models
Real reactors
The CSTR and the PFR are two ideal extremes of flow
behaviour. A real reactor may have
Stagnant zones
By-passing
Dispersion
A complete analysis of the reactor will require a
complete description of the flow, the kinetics and the
heat transfer. However, it is often sufficient with a
relatively minor model correction especially for
linear systems.
Residence times and distributions
Central concepts are:
F(t)
E(t)
Mean residence time and variance
Tanks-in-series model and dispersions model
F(t)
The fraction of the outlet flow which has spent a time less
than t in the reactor
F(t) is directly obtained from a step-change experiment
0
/ ) ( ) ( c t c t F =
F(t)
For the CSTR
For a PFR
) ( ) ( u = t H t F
Heavyside function
u /
1 ) (
t
e t F

=
G V / = u where
2
E(t)
E(t)dt =the fraction of outflow which has remained in the
reactor for a time between t and t+dt
E(t) is determined from a pulse experiment
}

=
0
) (
) (
) (
t c
t c
t E
E(t)
For the ideal CSTR we have
For the PFR we have
Diracs delta function
u
u
/
1
) (
t
e t E

=
) ( ) ( u o = t t E
G V / = u
dr
Useful relations
dt
dF
t E = ) (
}

=
0
) ( dt t tE t
NOTE: E(t) does not unambiguously determine the
reactor type! Many different reactors (or combination of
reactors) can result in the same E(t)
A combination of a CSTR and a PFR with equal volumes
will e.g. give the same E(t) reagardless of the order the
reactors are placed in.
One-parameter models
E(t) may be used to determine parameters in simple
one- parameter models
The most common of these models are the tanks-in-
series model and the dispersion model
Also other combinations of ideal reactors in series
may give a good fit to the E(t) distribution.
The dispersion model
r
dz
dc
u
dz
c d
D
i
i i
i
v + =
2
2
0
Axial dispersion
An analytical solution may be obtained for
certain kinetic expressions, e.g. first order
kinetics
3
Dispersion model
( ) ( )
|
|
.
|

\
|
+
=
D uL D uL
D uL
A A
e a e a
ae
c c
2 2 2 2
2
0
1 1
4
B A
A
kc r =
) / ( 4 1 uL D k a u + =
where
Reactor size needed to reach a certain conversion for
PFR and dispersion model
Salmi et al, Chemical Reaction Engineering and Reactor Technology, 2010
Tanks-in-series model
Reactor size needed to reach a certain conversion for
PFR and tanks-in-series
Salmi et al, Chemical Reaction Engineering and Reactor Technology, 2010
Variance
}

|
.
|

\
|
=
0
2
2
) ( dt t E t t o
The expected value for the second momentum is the variance
of the distribution function
2
0
2
) (

=
}
t dt t E t
Variance
The variance determined from the experimentally determined
E(t) distribution can be used to estimate the number of tanks
in a tanks-in-series model or D in a dispersion model
2
2
o

=
t
N
2
2
2

~
t
uL
D o
Tanks-in series model
Dispersion model
For low values of D
4
To determine the degree of conversion in a reactor
we need to know
E(t)
Kinetics
Micromixing (segregated flow or micromixed flow)
Time of mixing
How does micromixing affect the reaction
rate?
Segregated flow
Micro mixed flow
Reactor volume = 2V
Assume n-th order reaction
n
kc r =
n n
segr
kVc kVc R
2 1
+ =
n n
micro
c c
V k
V
Vc Vc
V k R
(

+
=
(

+
=
2
2
2
2
2 1 2 1
n
n n
micro
segr
c c
c c
R
R
|
.
|

\
| +
+
=
2
2
2 1
2 1
n=1 R
segr
=R
micro
n<1 R
segr
<R
micro
n>1 R
segr
>R
micro
Thus:
How does micromixing affect the reaction rate?
Segregated flow
Micro mixed flow
Reactor volume = 2V
So..
In cases of segregated flow it is sufficient to know E(t) and
the kinetic expression
For first order reactions it is also sufficient to know E(t)
In all other cases, a mixing model is needed in addition to
E(t) to determine the conversion of reactants in the
reactor