10.

37 Chemical and Biological Reaction Engineering, Spring 2007

Prof. William H. Green
Lecture 22: Combined Internal & External Transport Resistances

Packed Bed Reactor use PFR equation

dFi
= Ari eff
dz

z=0 z=L

Figure 1. Packed Bed Reactor

ri eff ri chem ri eff = ri chem

if 1 ?
if 1 ?
( > 1 ) weird

BL:

porous
catalyst
particle

dp

Figure 2. Porous Catalyst Particle

Biot Number:

external heat transfer resistance

Bi
internal heat transfer resistance

Mass transfer Biot Number:

Cite as: William Green, Jr., course materials for 10.37 Chemical and Biological Reaction Engineering,
Spring 2007. MIT OpenCourseWare (http://ocw.mit.edu), Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
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 kc d p D fluid
Bim = where kc
eff
Dinside
D diameter
Bim = efffluid
Dinside

Mears Test:

rA (observed) b R p n
if < 0.15 where n order of rxn
kc C A bulk

then C Ab C As (no external diffusion limitation) i.e. no changing

concentration across the boundary layer

Similarly,

H rxn rA (observed or theory) b R p Ea

if < 0.15 then Tb Ts (text: Eqn. 12-63)
h fluid RT 2

rAno external diff. limit vs. rAobserved

[>]

Weisz-Prater:

rA (observed) c R p 2
if eff
1 (text: Eqn. 12-61)
Dinside C A bulk
then you can neglect internal diffusion limitations, i.e. C As C Ab C A ( r = 0)

1000
Ea 30 RTs
100 = 0.6 H rxn 0
temp. dep. & exothermic
10
Ea 0

1
.1 1 10 100 1
.1
H rxn = 0
or Ea = 0
H rxn > 0

Figure 3. (text: Figure 12-7)

10.37 Chemical and Biological Reaction Engineering, Spring 2007 Lecture 22
Prof. William H. Green Page 2 of 3

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 H rxn DeC As
= where De Dinside and kt heat conductivity
eff

ktTs

Ci
kc ( Ci ,b Ci , s ) = Dinside
eff

r r = R
= ri dV .

Ci
kc Ci r=R
Dinside
eff
r = kc Ci , bulk
r =R
Ci
r = 0
r =0

if no significant external diffusion limit: Ci r =R

Ci , bulk

rA k C A
e Ea RT

rAeff f (k ) C A
Aeff e Ea
eff
RT
fit to: . (text: Table 12-1)

10.37 Chemical and Biological Reaction Engineering, Spring 2007 Lecture 22

Prof. William H. Green Page 3 of 3

Cite as: William Green, Jr., course materials for 10.37 Chemical and Biological Reaction Engineering,
Spring 2007. MIT OpenCourseWare (http://ocw.mit.edu), Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
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