Introduction To Reactor Design

Reactor Design
2012 G.P. Towler / UOP. For educational use in conjunction with

Towler & Sinnott Chemical Engineering Design only. Do not copy
Chemical Engineering Design
Reactor Design
Prediction of reactor performance, product yields etc.
See earlier lecture
Detailed discussion of reaction kinetics, catalysis,

deactivation, mass transfer, etc.
See reactors classes and textbooks
Focus of this lecture is on how real reactors are

designed and sized in industry
Special case of biological reactors is treated in next
lecture

Reactor Sizing & Costing

Estimate required volume
From residence time for non-catalytic reactors
From catalyst space velocity for packed bed catalytic reactors
Space velocity = lbs/h per lb catalyst
Hence use catalyst average bed density to estimate catalyst bed volume
From hydraulics & residence time for fluidized and slurry reactors
Make allowance for head space, internals, etc.
Decide pressure vessel size and shape

See pressure vessel design lecture
Cost reactor shell as a pressure vessel

Add extra costs for mixers, internals, controls, etc.
Complications of Real Reactor Design
How do we
handle multiple
phases?
How do we get
good mixing
& segregation?

How do we
introduce
catalyst?
What gives
lowest cost?
How do we
add or remove
heat?
How tight
does RTD have
to be?
Real Reactor Design

Very often, the design of real reactors is a lot more
complicated than just estimating the reactor volume
Much of the cost comes from reactor internals
Mixers, agitators, baffles
Heat transfer (jackets, coils or external loops)
Catalyst handling
The mixing and heat transfer performance of real

reactors can be very difficult to model and understand,
and can have significant effects on process yields and
product purity
Reactor Design
Basics of Reactor Design
Mixing in Industrial Reactors
Heat Transfer in Industrial Reactors
Vapor-Liquid Reactors
Reactors for Liquid Catalysis
Reactors for Solid Catalysis

Ideal Reactors
WMR or CSTR
Plug Flow Reactor
Perfect mixing
No axial mixing
Product and entire vessel contents

are at uniform temperature,
concentration
Sharp residence time distribution
Material flowing through the

reactor experiences a profile of
concentrations and temperatures
Material sees a distribution of

residence times
Idealized reactor performance is seldom attained in

practice, but is useful as a first approximation
Reactor Performance
Plug flow reactor:
dV
G
G = molar flow rate

V = volume
X = conversion
R = reaction rate per unit volume
Balance across element of reactor:

-G dX = R dV
Integrated form depends on rate expression R(X)
Well mixed reactor:

G
V

Balance across reactor:

G (Xin Xout) = R V
R is evaluated at outlet conditions
Reaction Kinetics Complications

Reactions are seldom simple first or second order
Most catalytic reactions can be fitted with LangmuirHinshelwood expressions
Inhibition terms are often significant
Mass transfer, mixing & equilibrium often limit the overall

rate
Catalyst deactivation is often significant
Simple first order model is usually adequate for predicting
conversion, but not for predicting byproduct yields or
understanding catalyst behavior
Mass Transfer
Mass transfer processes often reduce the overall rate of
reaction to a slower rate than intrinsic kinetics
Mass transfer limitations can occur:
Between phases (V/L, L/L, L/S, V/S, etc.)
Inside catalyst pores
Inter-phase transport is strongly influenced by interfacial

area, i.e., particle, droplet or bubble size (hence agitation
rate)
See reaction engineering textbooks for numerous
examples with neat analytical solutions

First Order Approximation

Very often we can write:
R = keff CA
CA is the concentration of one of the reagents (the limiting

reagent)
keff is effective first order rate constant
Includes mass transfer resistances
Includes concentrations of reagents that are present in excess and
so roughly constant
For an equilibrium reaction, expression is:

R = keff (CA CA*)
CA* = equilibrium concentration

Reactor Heat Balance

Reactor design must account for enthalpy difference between
feed and products, which can come from:
Heat of reaction:
dH = G.(Xout Xin).Hrxn
Heat of reaction must be calculated at reaction temperature and pressure
Sensible heat changes:
dH = m.Cp.dT
Latent heat due to phase changes:
dH = m.HL
In industrial practice, all of these are usually estimated

using process simulation software:
dHreactor = Hproducts - Hfeeds

Reactor Design


Tubular Reactors
Tubular reactors are almost always

designed to be in turbulent flow
A static mixer is usually placed
immediately downstream of any
feed point to ensure reactor
contents are mixed quickly
Static mixer usually consists of
baffles to induce turbulence

Source: Komax Inc.

www.Komax.com

Stirred Reactors
Agitator consists of impeller
mounted on shaft driven by motor
Motor is usually mounted above
the reactor
Reactor usually contains baffles or
other internals to induce turbulence
and prevent contents from swirling
2007 Chemineer Inc.
Used with permission.
www.Chemineer.com
Impeller Types
Straight Blade
Helical Ribbon
Pitched Blade
Anchor
Hydrofoil
Propeller (Turbine)
Rushton Turbine
Screw
2007 Chemineer Inc. Used with permission. www.Chemineer.com

Baffles
Flow pattern
If the tank has no baffles then

the liquid will swirl and
develop a vortex:
Liquid level
Side view
Usually four baffles are

placed around the perimeter
to break up swirl
Typically, baffles are 1/10 of
diameter and located 1/20 of
diameter from wall

Top view
Flow pattern
Baffle
Impeller Reynolds Number

Can be used to determine extent of mixing and correlate
power consumption and heat transfer to shell (jacket)
Defined as
Da N
2
Re =
Da = agitator blade diameter, m

N = agitator speed, revs/s
= density, kg/m3
= viscosity Ns/m2
Different definitions are used for agitators without blades

Power Consumption
Power consumption P (in W or Nm/s) can be made into
dimensionless power number, Np, which can be correlated against
impeller Reynolds number
Np =
N 3 Da 5
For Re > 103, power number is roughly constant and mainly a

function of impeller type
Np
10
102
103
Re
See Perrys Handbook or vendors for correlations

Non-Ideal Flow and Mixing

In some cases, simple correlations may not be
adequate:
If dead zones cannot be tolerated for reasons of product purity,
safety, etc.
If reactor internals are complex
If reaction selectivity is very sensitive to mixing
In these cases, it is usually necessary to carry out a

more sophisticated analysis of mixing
Use computational fluid dynamics to model the reactor
Use physical modeling (cold flow) experiments
Use tomography methods to look at performance of real reactor

Computational Fluid Dynamics
Calculate mass, energy and momentum balances

discretely across a 2- or 3-dimensional grid of
points as a function of time
Can include effects of heat and mass transfer,

bubbles, suspended solids
Boundary conditions on grid are set up to reflect

reactor geometry
Results are usually plotted as color coded pictures

of velocity, mass transfer coefficient, void fraction,
shear, etc., that let the designer see where the
weak points of the design may be and propose
changes to the design geometry
Commercial software such as Fluent, CFX or

FloWizard is used (see www.Ansys.com)
Source: Ansys Inc.
www.Ansys.com

Reactor Tomography
Various methods can be used for non-invasive examination of
reactor in-situ
Cat Scanning, Ultrasound, Gamma Scanning
Usually carried out by specialist contractors, & not cheap
Cat Scanning of
FCC regenerator
to validate MTO
reactor catalyst
distribution
Source: UOP

Gamma
scanning to
validate axial
catalyst density
profile in FCC
regenerator
Reactor Design

Non-Isothermal Liquid Phase Reactors
Low heat duties can be achieved with a jacketed vessel:

Q U A T
Intermediate duties require an internal coil
But note: coil impacts mixing, fouling and cleaning

Q = U A Lmtd
U can be estimated using correlations for shell side of S&T HX
Coil volume must be added to volume calculated from residence time
High duties require an external heat exchange circuit

Estimating Heat Transfer Coefficients in

Stirred Tank Reactors
Reactor side heat transfer coefficient depends strongly on rate of
agitation, reactor internals & coil design
Very case specific
Detailed understanding requires CFD or physical modeling
First approximation for jacket for design purposes:

Nu = Re Pr0.33
Ch 19 (section 19.18) has values for different impellers:
is in range 0.36 to 1.4,

is in range 0.5 to 0.75, typically 0.67
Re is the impeller Reynolds number
Nu = hd/k, where d is reactor internal diameter

Example
A well-mixed reactor for manufacturing a specialty chemical has
diameter 2m and liquid depth 3m. The agitator is a paddle with diameter
0.2m and speed is 60 rpm. The reactor operates at 75 C, and a cooling
rate of 200 kW is required. How would you cool the reactor?
Start by assuming typical organic chemical properties

Pr ~ 0.9, k ~ 0.14 W/mK, ~ 700 kg/m3, ~ 0.6 10-3 Ns/m2
60 rpm = 1 rps, so Re = (0.22)7001/0.6 10-3 = 46700
From Ch 19, Nu = 0.36 Re0.67 Pr0.33 = 467, and h = k Nu/d = 0.14 467/2 = 33 W/m2K
Heat transfer coefficient on jacket side using cooling water ~ 800 W/m2K, so U ~ (1/800 +
1/33)-1 = 31 W/m2K
Jacket area is .d.L = 3.14 2 3 = 18.85m2, So cooling duty = 31 18.9 dT ~594dT
If cooling water is available at 45 C, then maximum delta T would be 30 C and maximum

cooling rate would be 594 45 = 26.7 kW
Jacket is not adequate and we should increase stirrer speed or agitator length or consider
a coil or external loop

Non-Isothermal Vapor Phase Reactors

Heat transfer coefficients are usually too low to use
jackets or internal coils
External heating or cooling loops are most common
For very endothermic processes, reaction is carried out
in a fired heater tube
Reactor design is same as fired heater design
Allow extra residence time in radiant zone if necessary
See later

Reactor Design

How would you get a vapor to

react with a liquid?

Goal
Maintain low
concentration of
gas component in
liquid
Types of V-L Reactor
- Sparged stirred tank reactor

- Sparged tubular reactor
Examples
- Liquid phase
oxidations using
air
- Fermenters
Contact gas and

liquid over catalyst
- Trickle bed reactor
- Catalytic
hydrogenation
- Slurry phase reactor

React a component
out of the gas
phase to high
conversion
- Multi-stage V/L contactor

(reactive absorption column)
- Venturi scrubber

- Chemisorption
- Acid gas
scrubbing
Sparged Reactors
Sparger is a pipe with holes for bubbles to flow out

For smaller bubbles, a porous pipe diffuser can be used instead
Balance between bubble break-up and coalescence is quickly
established
If small bubble size must be maintained then additional shear is needed
and an agitator is used as well
Designer must allow some disengaging space at top of reactor, or
entrainment will be excessive
Sparger as Agitator
If gas flow rate is large then gas flow can be used as primary means
of agitation
Perrys Handbook suggests the following air rates (ft3/ft2.min) for
agitating an open tank full of water at 1 atm:
Degree of agitation
Liquid depth 9ft
Liquid depth 3ft
Moderate
0.65
1.3
Complete
1.3
2.6
Violent
3.1
6.2

Lift Reactors and Loop Reactors

If sparger is used to provide
agitation then a baffle is often
added to give better liquid
circulation and ensure mixing of
feeds
These reactors can be used for
very large flowrates, where the
liquid flow is driven by the vapor
flow
Baffle
Equipment design is governed by

two phase flow hydraulics (see
earlier lecture)
Example: UOP/Paques Thiopaq Reactor
Biological desulfurization of gases with oxidative regeneration of bugs using air
Reactor at AMOC in Al Iskandriyah has six 2m diameter downcomers inside

shell

Reaction in Vapor-Liquid Contacting

Columns
Trayed or packed columns can be
used to contact vapor and liquid for
reaction
See separation columns lecture for
design details
Packing may be catalytically active,

or could be conventional inert
packing
Design is similar to design of
absorption columns, but must allow
for enhancement of absorption due
to reaction
Vapor-Liquid Reaction Kinetics

Liquid
B
CA,
Vapor
CA,i
If liquid component B is present in excess then we can assume

reaction is psuedo-first order in gas component A
Rate of reaction = k2 CA CB k1CA
Start by assuming reaction in bulk is >> reaction in mass transfer film
Mass transfer flux through film = k L a C A,i C A,
= Rate of reaction in bulk = k1 C A,


Solving :
C A, =
C A ,i a k L
(k1 + a k L )
so rate of reaction (or flux) =
k1 C A,i a k L
(k1 + a k L )
= a k L C A ,i
k1
(k1 + a k L )
We can define two regimes:
k1 << akL, rate k1CA,i

Known as slow kinetic regime
Reaction rate occurs with concentration that would be predicted by phase
equilibrium
Design is insensitive to increase in area a
k1 >> akL, rate a kLCA,i

Known as slow mass transfer regime
Reaction rate occurs at the rate that would be set by mass transfer with zero
concentration in the bulk liquid
Design is sensitive to increase in area a


For either of the slow regimes to occur we need reaction
to mainly occur in the bulk liquid
Reaction in film << Reaction in bulk
a k1 C A,i << a k L (C A,i C A, )
if C A, 0, and = D / k L , where D is diffusivity
D k1
<< 1
2
kL
We define the Hatta number, Ha as:
Ha =
D k1
kL
If the Hatta number is ~1 or greater then we have the

fast or instantaneous regimes and the analysis is
more complicated: see reaction engineering textbooks
Questions ?


Introduction To Reactor Design

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Reactor Design

2012 G.P. Towler / UOP. For educational use in conjunction with

Chemical Engineering Design

Detailed discussion of reaction kinetics, catalysis,

Focus of this lecture is on how real reactors are

2012 G.P. Towler / UOP. For educational use in conjunction with

Chemical Engineering Design

Reactor Sizing & Costing

Decide pressure vessel size and shape

Cost reactor shell as a pressure vessel

Chemical Engineering Design

Complications of Real Reactor Design

2012 G.P. Towler / UOP. For educational use in conjunction with

Chemical Engineering Design

Real Reactor Design

The mixing and heat transfer performance of real

Chemical Engineering Design

2012 G.P. Towler / UOP. For educational use in conjunction with

Chemical Engineering Design

Plug Flow Reactor

Product and entire vessel contents

Sharp residence time distribution

Material flowing through the

Material sees a distribution of

Idealized reactor performance is seldom attained in

Chemical Engineering Design

G = molar flow rate

Balance across element of reactor:

Well mixed reactor:

2012 G.P. Towler / UOP. For educational use in conjunction with

Balance across reactor:

Chemical Engineering Design

Reaction Kinetics Complications

Mass transfer, mixing & equilibrium often limit the overall

Chemical Engineering Design

Inter-phase transport is strongly influenced by interfacial

2012 G.P. Towler / UOP. For educational use in conjunction with

Chemical Engineering Design

First Order Approximation

CA is the concentration of one of the reagents (the limiting

For an equilibrium reaction, expression is:

CA* = equilibrium concentration

Reactor Heat Balance

Heat of reaction must be calculated at reaction temperature and pressure

Sensible heat changes:

Latent heat due to phase changes:

In industrial practice, all of these are usually estimated

2012 G.P. Towler / UOP. For educational use in conjunction with

Chemical Engineering Design

2012 G.P. Towler / UOP. For educational use in conjunction with

Chemical Engineering Design

Mixing in Industrial Reactors

Tubular reactors are almost always

2012 G.P. Towler / UOP. For educational use in conjunction with

Source: Komax Inc.

Chemical Engineering Design

Mixing in Industrial Reactors

Chemical Engineering Design

2007 Chemineer Inc. Used with permission. www.Chemineer.com

Chemical Engineering Design

If the tank has no baffles then

Usually four baffles are

2012 G.P. Towler / UOP. For educational use in conjunction with