CHEMICAL REACTION

ENGINEERING

DR. SAIKAT BANERJEE

Lecturer
Chemical Engineering Department
Salalah College of Technology

Classification of Reactions
1. Homogeneous:
A reaction is homogeneous if it takes
place in one phase alone.

2. Heterogeneous
A reaction is heterogeneous if it
requires the presence of at least two
phases to proceed at the rate that it
does.

ariables Affecting the Rate of Reaction

Temperature
Pressure
Composition
Others
Definition of Reaction Rate
Based on unit volume of reacting fluid

Based on unit mass of solid in fluid-solid

systems,

Based on unit interfacial surface in two-fluid systems or based on

unit surface
of solid in gas-solid systems

Based on unit volume of solid in gas-solid systems

Based on unit volume of reactor, if different from the rate

based on unit volume of fluid,

Speed of Chemical Reactions

Problem 1
A rocket engine, burns a stoichiometric
mixture of fuel (liquid hydrogen) in oxidant
(liquid oxygen). The combustion chamber is
cylindrical, 75 cm long and 60 cm in
diameter, and the combustion process
produces 108 kg/s of exhaust gases. If
combustion is complete, find the rate of
reaction of hydrogen and of oxygen.

Problem 2
A human being (75 kg) consumes about 6000 Kj
of food per day. Assume that the food is all glucose
and that the overall reaction is

Find man's metabolic rate (the rate of living, loving,

and laughing) in terms of moles of oxygen used per m 3
of person per second.

The Rate
Equation

aA + bB = rR + sS.

Classification of
Reaction
1. Single Reaction When a single stoichiometric equation and single
rate equation are chosen to represent the progress
of the reaction then it is called single reaction

2. Multiple Reaction

When more than one kinetic expression is needed

to follow the changing composition of all the
reaction components then it is called multiple
reactions.

2A. Series reaction

2B. Parallel reactions

Elementary and Nonelementary Reactions

Such reactions in which the rate equation corresponds

to a stoichiometric equation are called elementary
reactions.
When there is no direct correspondence between
stoichiometry and rate, then we have
nonelementary reactions.

Molecularity and Order of Reaction

The molecularity of an elementary reaction
is the number of molecules involved in the
reaction, and this has been found to have
the values of one, two, or occasionally three.
molecularity refers only to an
elementary reaction.

where a, b, . . . , d are not necessarily related to the

stoichiometric coefficients. We call the powers to which
the concentrations are raised the order of the reaction.

Rate Constant, k
the dimensions of the rate constant k for the nth-order
reaction

Representation of an Elementary Reaction

Kinetic Models for Nonelementary Reactions

1. Free Radicals

2. Ions and Polar Substances

3. Molecules

4. Transition Complexes

5. Non-chain Reactions

6. Chain Reactions

TEMPERATURE-DEPENDENT TERM OF A RATE

EQUATION
Temperature Dependency from
Arrhenius' Law
Arrhenius' law

where ko, is called the frequency or pre-exponential

factor
E is called the activation energy
T is temperature in Kelvin
At the same concentration, but at two different
temperatures

Comparison of Theories with Arrhenius' Law

Problem

Milk is pasteurized if it is heated to 63oC

for 30 min, but if it is heated to 74C it
only needs 15 s for the same result. Find
the activation energy of this sterilization
process.

For a gas reaction at 340 K the

rate is reported as, -dp/dT =
1.42p3 atm/hr
1. What are the units of the rate
constant?
2. What is the value of the rate
constant for this reaction if the rate
equation is expressed in concentration
and rA in mol/cubic m. S

INTERPRETATION OF BATCH REACTOR DATA

integral and the differential methods
Constant-Volume Batch Reactor

Analysis of Total Pressure Data

The Conversion
NAo is the initial amount of A in the reactor at time t = 0, and that
NA is the amount present at time t. Then the conversion of A

Integral Method of Analysis

A. Irreversible Unimolecular-Type FirstOrder Reactions

Case 1:

Irreversible Bimolecular-Type Second-Order

Reactions

Case 2:

Case 3:

Empirical Rate Equations of nth Order

Zero-Order Reactions

Half-life, t : Overall Order of Irreversible

Reactions
The time needed for the
concentration of reactants to drop to
one-half the original value

Fractional Life Method tF

In which the concentration of reactant
drops to any fractional value F =
CA/CAo in time tF.

VARYING-VOLUME BATCH REACTOR

Zero-Order Reactions

First-Order Reactions

IDEAL BATCH REACTOR

MIXED FLOW REACTOR

STEADY-STATE PLUG FLOW REACTOR

In an isothermal batch reactor 70% of a liquid reactant is

converted in 13 min. What space-time and space-velocity are
needed to effect this conversion in a plug flow reactor and in a
mixed flow reactor?

In a Oman Aeromatics homogeneous gas reaction A3R has a

reported rate at 2150C
-rA = 10-2 CA0.5 [mol/liter.sce]
Find the space time needed for 80% conversion of a 50% A 50%
inert feed to a plug flow reactor operating at 2150C and 5 atm
(CA0 = 0.0625mol/liter)

DIFFERENT TYPES OF REACTORS

There are two main basic vessel
types:
A tank
A pipe
There are three main basic models used to estimate the most
important process variables of different chemical reactors:
batch reactor model (batch),
continuous stirred-tank reactor model (CSTR), and
plug flow reactor model (PFR).

Key process variables include :

Residence time (, lower case Greek tau)
Volume (V)
Temperature (T)
Pressure (p)
Concentrations of chemical species (C1, C2, C3, ...
C n)
Heat transfer coefficients (h, U)

1 Semi-batch reactor :

3 Catalytic reactor

4 Fluidized bed reactor:

5 Bioreactor:

6. Air-lift reactor:

Advantage
1. mixing is achieved through the air draft
2. absence of moving parts for mixing which in turn eliminates the
maintenance problems associated with moving parts
3. the shearing action is less on the solid particles compared to stirred
tanks which help in reducing disintegration of the solid structures of the
particles.

Recycle Reactor