ChE 110 Introduction to Chemical Engineering Spring, 2007 Problem 4.

2, Felder and Rousseau

Washington State University School of Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering Richard L. Zollars

A liquid phase chemical reaction A B takes place in a well-stirred tank. The concentration of A in the feed is CA0 (mol/m3), and that in the tank and outlet stream is CA (mol/m3). Neither concentration varies with time. The volume of the tank contents is V (m3) and the volumetric & flow rate of the inlet and outlet streams is v (m3/s). The reaction rate (the rate at which A is consumed by reaction in the tank) is given by the expression
r (mol A consumed / s ) = k V C A

where k is a constant.

(a) Is this process continuous, batch, or semibatch? Is it transient or steady-state? (b) What would you expect the reactant concentration CA to equal if k = 0 (no reaction)? What should is approach if k (infinitely rapid reaction)? (c) Write a differential balance on A, stating which terms in the general balance equation (accumulation = input + generation output consumption) you discarded and why you discarded them. Use the balance to derive the following relation between the inlet and outlet reactant concentrations:
CA = C A0 & 1 + kV / v

Verify that this relation predicts the results in part (b). SOLUTION (a) This is a continuous process. Assuming that there is no volume change resulting from the reaction the fact that the volumetric flow rate in and the volumetric flow rate out are the same implies that volume of material inside the reactor does not change with time. Since the tank does not fill up nor empty this is a continuous process. We are also told that the flow rates and concetrations do not change. Thus the process is at steady-state.

(b) If there were no reaction (k = 0) the contents of the tank should be exactly the same as those of the stream entering the tank. Thus CA should be the same as CA0. If the reaction were infinitely fast (k ) all of the A should react inside the tank. Thus CA = 0. (c) Perform a balance on species A. Start with the general balance equation

accumulation = input + generation output consumption

In this equation we will let accumulation = 0 since the system is at steady-state (no variation in time) and generation = 0 since A is a reactant and not a product of the reaction. Since the concentrations are given in moles of A use moles of A per second as the units for every term in the general balance equation. Thus the input and output terms will be concentration*volumetric flow rate (mole/vol * vol/time = mole/time). The general balance equation then becomes & & 0 = v C A0 + 0 v C A k V C A Solve this equation for CA to get & & v C A + k V C A = v C A0 & & (v + k V )C A = v C A0 & (1 + k V / v )C A = C A0

CA =

C A0 & (1 + k V / v )

If k = 0 the second term in the denominator is zero which gives

CA = C A0 =C (1 + 0) A0

This result agrees with part (b). If k

then you get

CA = C A0 =0 (1 + )

This also agrees with the results from part (b).