Chapter

1: Mole Balances
Different types of reactors:

General mole balance equation:

List out the important assumptions/criteria

of the reactor

PBR

PFR

CSTR

Batch

Small scale operation

No flow in or out

Definition of rate of reaction:

In out + Generation = Accumulation

!! + =

Show step by step to get design equation for
Batch, CSTR, PFR and PBR. List all the
assumption made.
BATCH:
Assumption(s):
1.

2.

When has a chemical reaction takes place?

1.

2.

3.

! =

Internal

CSTR:

Example 1.1: Rate of disappearance

Assumption(s):

Consider the reaction of chlorobenzene and

chloral to produce the banned insecticide DDT
(dichlorodiphenyl-trichloroethane)
in
the
presence of fuming sulfuric acid.

Letting the symbol A represent chloral, B be
chlorobenzene, C be DDT, and D be H2O we
obtain
A + 2B C + D

Chloral is being consumed at a rate of 10
mol/m3.s when reacting with Chlorobenzene to
form DDT and water in the reaction described
above. Write the rates of disappearance and
formation (i.e., generation) for each species in
this reaction.

Solution:

1.

2.

a) Chloral (A)

The rate of reaction of chloral [A] (rA) is given as

3
10 mol/m s
3
Rate of disappearance of A = rA = 10 mol/m s
3
Rate of formation of A = rA = 10 mol/m s

b) Chlorobenzene (B)

PFR:

Assumption(s):

1.

c) DDT (C)

2.

d) H2O (D)

Internal

Example 1.2:How large it is?

Consider the liquid phase cis trans
isomerization of 2butane

which we will write symbolically as

A B
The reaction is first order in A (! = ! ) and
is carried out in a tubular reactor in which the
volumetric flow rate, is constant, i.e., v = v0.
1. Sketch the concentration profile.

2. Derive an equation relating the reactor
volume to the entering and exiting
concentrations of A, the rate constant k,
and the volumetric flow rate.

3. Determine the reactor volume necessary to
reduce the exiting concentration to 10% of
the entering concentration when the
volumetric flow rate is 10 dm3/min (i.e.,
liters/min) and the specific reaction rate, k,
is 0.23 min-1.

Solution:
(Refer your textbook)

Internal