Plug Flow Reactor

THE DESIGN EQUATION FOR A PFR

dNj
= Rj
dV
is written for each component and the set of ODEs is solved subject to the initial
conditions. The rate of production of each component is
nreactions
X
Rj = νij ri
i

which reduces to the following for a single reaction

Rj = ν j r

THE PROBLEM STATEMENT

The thermal cracking of propane

C3 H8 → CH4 + C2 H4

is first order in the concentration of C3 H8 . The reaction will be conducted in an isother-

mal PFR operating at 800 ◦ C and at a constant pressure of 1 atm. At 800 ◦ C the rate
constant is 4.1 sec−1 . The feed contains a steam diluent (3 moles of steam fed per mole
of propane fed).
Since this problem involves a single reaction, the set of ODEs can be reduced to one
ODE. For a gas phase problem we express component concentrations using an equation
of state for the total concentration and multiply it by the mole fractions. The mole
fractions are related to the molar flows and all the molar flows can be expressed in
terms of one component. For this specific example we find
dNp P Np
= −k
dV RT 5Np,f − Np
where p designates propane and for which the mole fraction of propane
Np
yp =
5Np,f − Np
is dependent on the intial conditions and the amount of steam diluent. To determine the
reactor volume needed to produce 300 million pounds of ethylene per year that operates
at a propane conversion of 95%, integrate the following. (Np,f = 0.358 lb-moles/sec)
The answer is 1,730 ft3 .
!
−RT
Z 0.05×Np,f 5Np,f − Np
VR = dNp
kP Np,f Np

1
 Plug Flow Reactor

You need to recognize that the single ODE was dependent on the initial stoichiometry
and on the amount of diluent. If these process parameters change, the ODE may change.
Modifying the ODE is straightforward and could be done yet this is a cumbersome way
to explore the effect of changing the process conditions. A more efficient approach and a
more appealing method is to solve the set of ODEs and follow the changes in the molar
flowrates of all the components. This enables you to find the volume for any conversion
of propane and for any set of initial conditions. Such an approach employs numerical
techniques to solve the set of ODEs.
THE QUESTIONS

1. Examine the reference case that was generated for the intial conditions listed
above. Notice how the molar flowrates of each component change along the length
(increasing volume) of the reactor. How many dependent variables are there and
what are their initial values? Why are the flowrates of methane and ethylene
identical?

2. Why does the molar flowrate of steam remain constant yet the mole fraction of
steam changes?

3. Run the program to increase and decrease the amount of steam diluent and exam-
ine the changes this makes to the molar flowrate of propane. Provide a justification
for the effect you observe.