Experiment

Continuous Stirred Tank Reactor

Results and Discussion

Continuous flow reactors are often used for the bulk production of different chemical and biological

processes. The transport of materials in such reactors occur through flowing streams wherein there is a continuous

feeding of the reactants and a continuous exit stream of products. The continuous flow reactor that is the focus of

this experiment is the continuous stirred tank reactor or CSTR. Being operated in a steady-state basis, the CSTR

has constant condition during the process.

In this experiment, the relationship of time, temperature, specific rate constant, activation energy,

conductivity, and percentage conversion were determined using a computer-controlled CSTR. In a reactor like

that of a CSTR, one or more liquid reagents are uniformly mixed. For this case, sodium hydroxide (NaOH) and

ethyl acetate (C4H8O2) are mixed together in a reaction known as alkaline hydrolysis that yields ethanol and

sodium acetate [4].

In order to fully discuss the results of the experiment, the following tables and figures were created. Since there

were so many data points obtained from the computer, only some points were considered to avoid inconsistencies

in the presentation of data. For the relationship of temperature, activation energy (Ea), and specific rate constant

(K), Tables 1 and 2, and Figures 1 and 2 were presented. The data points were obtained at time elapse equal to 10

mins

Table 1. Temperature and specific rate constant

T 1/T K ln K

303.15 K 0.003298697 0.11289 -2.04845

307.15 K 0.003255738 0.119065 -2.12809
312.15 K 0.003203588 0.116303 -2.15156
317.15 K 0.003153082 0.109667 -2.21031

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Based on the data above it can be observed, that the chalk recovered were approximately near 70 percent of the

original weight this only means that the filter press is efficient enough for the process. Only two data points were

gathered in the experiment where the filtration rate is compared with the volume.

As can be seen from Figure 1, there was an inverse relationship between specific rate constant and temperature,

which means that as the temperature increased, the rate of the reaction decreased. This is going against the natural

principle that at higher temperature, the particles move faster and collide more frequently, although at some point,

the reaction rate will really decrease once the reagents begin to degrade

0.122

0.12

0.118
Specific rate constant

Specific rate constant vs. Temp

0.116
not including first run
0.114
Linear (Specific rate constant vs.
Temp)
0.112
Linear (not including first run)

0.11

0.108
300 305 310 315 320
Temperature

Figure 1. Specific rate constant vs. Temperature

The activation energy of the reaction is the energy that the free energy of the system must overcome before

the reactants can be converted to products. For the activation energy to be quantified, the natural logarithm of the

specific rate constant was plotted against the reciprocal of temperature as shown in Figure 2. It can be seen that

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there was a direct relationship between ln K and 1/T. In computing for the activation energy (Ea) value, two ways

can be done. The first method is by graphical method. The equation of the line was included in Figure 2 and Ea

can be computed using the Arrhenius equation, with the use of slope, specifically. The second method is by

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analytical method which makes use of the Arrhenius equation as well, but without having the need to graph the

data points. The values of Ea that were obtained were presented in Table 2

-2.04
0.0031 0.00315 0.0032 0.00325 0.0033 0.00335
-2.06

-2.08

-2.1
Axis Title

-2.12 Ln K vs 1/T
neglecting first data
-2.14
Linear (Ln K vs 1/T)
-2.16

-2.18

-2.2

-2.22
Axis Title

Figure 2. Relationship of ln K and 1/T

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Figure 2: Plot of t/V vs V

Figure 2 shows the graph of the reciprocal of filtration rate vs the volume of filtrate collected. The graph

is linearly decreasing and had a negative value of slope as opposed to the graph in Figure 1. The resulting values

of the slope and y-intercept were used in the calculation of filtration parameters such as cake coefficient, specific

cake resistance, and filter medium resistance were also calculated.

Table 2 Summary of Calculated Parameters

Parameter Value

Cake coefficient, Kc (s/m6) -30.942

8
Specific cake resistance, α (m/kg) −7.66x10

Filter medium resistance, Rm (1/m3) 3.3189x1010

Table 2 shows the summary of data computed. The value of cake coefficient, Kc, was obtained using the slope of

the graph in Figure 2. The values of specific cake resistance, α, and filter medium resistance, Rm, contribute to
[2]
the decrease in filtration rate. These resistance values also affect the pressure drop across the filter . The

formation of filter cake occurs as the solid particles are retained on the filter. In the course of filtration, the

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thickness of filter cake grows. Ideally, With the increasing layer of thickness comes the increase in flow resistance

and decrease in filtration flow rate [3].

Conclusion

In different industry, Filtration is a process in order to purify the product or to remove impurities via

separation of the solid materials in mixture. It is often used to eliminate damaging matters from air or water, such

as to decrease air pollution and for water treatment process such as purifying water. The experiment on plate-and-

frame filtration focused on the evaluation of parameters such as specific cake resistance, filter medium resistance.

The results obtained had shown the calculated values of these parameters through the analysis of the volume of

filtrate collected and the time data points.

However, only two data points were gathered so the validity of the results could not be accounted for the

true result in of the experiment. Since two data points would not be sufficient in order to determine the real

relationship between the filtration and volume. Thus, this could affect the resulting values for the cake coefficient,

filter resistance and other parameters. Nonetheless, based on the gathered data several factors affect the

determination of the specific cake resistance and the filter medium resistance in a plate. These factors are the cake

coefficient filtrate, viscosity, initial volumetric flowrate, slurry concentration, total area and the pressure drop.

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The mechanism that is involve in a plate and frame filtration is the filtration of materials or particles that

had been suspending on the top of the fluid. Wherein surface filtration is the type of filtration process involve in

this equipment. In this experiment the use of chalk or magnesium carbonate is mixed with water to obtain a slurry

mixture to be filtered through a filter press. In summarization, the filtration’s performance were determined by

the filtration rate and the rate of cake formation.

Negative slope for volume vs t/V indicates that the specific cake resistance is too low compared to the

filter medium resistance. In order to avoid this and have a positive sloped data, the values for specific cake

resistance and filter medium resistance must be closer.

References

[1] C. J. Geankoplis, Transport Processes and Unit Operations, Third Edition, Singapore: Prentice Hall, 1995.

[2] Fogler, H. S. (2011). Essentials of Chemical Reaction Engineering. Pearson Education, Inc

[3] Perry, Robert H. and Green, Don W. (1984). Perry's Chemical Engineers' Handbook (6th ed.). McGraw

Hill. ISBN 0-07-049479-7

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APPENDIX

Sample Computations

Slurry Concentration, Cs
2 𝑘𝑔 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑙𝑘
𝐶𝑠 =
1 𝑚3
180 𝐿 𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟 (1000 𝐿)

𝒌𝒈
𝑪𝒔 = 𝟏𝟏. 𝟏𝟏
𝒎𝟑

From the graph of t/V vs V

Slope = -15.471
Y-intercept = 157.91

Initial Volumetric Flowrate, qo

1
y − int = = 2.482
qo
−𝟑
𝒎𝟑
𝒒𝒐 = 𝟔. 𝟑𝟑𝒙𝟏𝟎
𝒔

Cake coefficient, Kc

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Kc
slope = = −15.471
2
𝑲𝒄 = −𝟑𝟎. 𝟗𝟒𝟐

Specific cake resistance, α

μCs α
Kc =
A2 g c ∆P
kg − m kg
(8.934x10−4 ) (11.1111 3 ) α
s m
−30.942 =
kg − m
(0.968 m2 )2 (1 ) (137,895 Pa)
N − s2
𝟖 𝒎
𝜶 = −𝟕. 𝟔𝟔𝐱𝟏𝟎
𝒌𝒈

Filter medium resistance, Rm

𝐴𝑔𝑐 ∆P
𝑅𝑚 =
𝜇𝑞𝑜
kg − m
(0.968 m2 ) (1 ) (137,895 Pa)
N − s2
𝑅𝑚 =
kg − m 𝑚3
(8.934x10−4 ) (6.33𝑥10−4 )
s 𝑠
𝑹𝒎 = 𝟑. 𝟑𝟏𝟖𝟗𝐱𝟏𝟎𝟏𝟎 /𝒎𝟑

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