Reaction in an Isothermal Continuous Stirred-Tank Reactor (CSTR)
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In this Demonstration, the liquid-phase reaction takes place in an isothermal, continuous stirred-tank reactor (CSTR). Use the sliders to set the feed concentration of
,
, the volumetric flow rate and the rate constant
. Select the reaction order with respect to
using the "
" or "
" button. The rate constant has the same numerical value when the reaction order changes, but its units are different. The figure shows the feed molar flow rate
, the feed concentration
, the outlet molar flow rates
,
and the outlet concentrations
,
. Note that the outlet concentrations are identical to the concentrations in the reactor. The reactor residence time
is also calculated.
Contributed by: Neil Hendren (February 2019)
Additional contributions by: John L. Falconer
(University of Colorado Boulder, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering)
Open content licensed under CC BY-NC-SA
Details
The constant-density, liquid-phase reaction takes place in an isothermal CSTR: , with reaction rate
,
where is the concentration of component
,
is the rate of reaction of component
,
is the order of reaction with respect to
and is the rate constant.
Mass balances on each component:
component :
,
component :
.
Mass balances in terms of volumetric flow rates and concentrations:
component :
,
component :
.
is the molar flow rate of component
at the inlet;
is the molar flow rate of component
at the outlet;
and
are molar concentrations of component
at the inlet and outlet, respectively;
and is the volumetric flow rate, which is equal at the inlet and outlet for constant-density reactions.
The solution to these mass balances for first- and second-order reactions are:
first-order:
second-order:
,
where is the residence time in the reactor.
Snapshots
Permanent Citation