DISCUSSIONS

Saponification reaction between NaOH and Et(Ac) was able to be carried out in this
experiment via plug flow reactor (PFR). Other than that, we are also able to determine the
reaction rate constant by using the formula and to determine the effect of residence time on the
conversion in the PFR.
The experiment was first started by carrying out the general start-up for the reactor. The
process in the PFR can be done in two ways, whether it is vary in temperature or in contact time.
The flow rates of both solutions in this experiment are the varying components in this
experiment. At the end of the day, the saponification process is successfully done in the PFR.

NaOH

Sodium Hydroxide +

CH3COOC2H5

CH3COONa

Ethyl Acetate

Sodium Acetate

C2H5OH
+

Ethyl

Alcohol

The overall reaction order for the saponification process is second ordered, the reaction
rate constant can be determined by applied the equations below, where

-rA = k CA2 (1-X)2

-rA = FAO dX/dV = voCAO dX/dV
v o X dX
vo
X
V TFR =
=

2
kC AO 0 (1X ) kC AO 1X

For constant PFR volume, flow rate and initial concentrations, the reaction rate constant is:

k=

v0
X
V TFR C AO 1X

The reaction rate constant that we obtained for flow rates 100 mL/min and 300 mL/min
are 4.8557 M-1.min-1 and 9.0268 M-1.min-1 respectively. Meanwhile, the reaction rate for flow
rates 100 mL/min and 300 mL/min are 0.001322 M.min -1 and 0.000386 M.min-1 respectively.
From the reaction rates we calculated, we can see that the values are decrease as the flow rates
increase. There should be a directly proportional relationship between flow rate and reaction rate.
Maybe there were some errors when we conducted the experiment and handling the reactor. One
of it is maybe about the time management during conducting the experiment. Referring to the
result table, we can see that in flow rate 100 mL/min and 300 mL/min, the average residence
time are 7.4213 minutes and 2.4685 minutes respectively. The highest point of X comparing
between average residence time in flow rates 100 mL/min and 300 mL/min are 59.4694 % and
40.3736 %. Conversion is a property that shows how much of the reaction has taken place.
Hence, by comparing this property with the residence time parameter, one can analyse the effects
of increasing residence time to the reaction itself. Residence time is the average amount of time a
discrete quantity of reagent spends inside the reactor tank. Theoretically, conversion in PFR will
increase as residence time increase. This is because the longer the residence time involved, more
reaction will occur inside the reactor. So, we can postulate that this experiment obeys the
principle that correlates between residence time and conversion, X.
After all values has been calculated, a graph of conversion factor against conductivity is
plotted. From the graph that had been plotted, we can obtained the concentration of NaOH at the
inlet and outlet of the reactor by using the calibration curve.