Assignment 1 1 An insulated cylindrical container with rigid walls contains vapor and liquid phases.

Initially, the system is at the normal boiling point TB . Heat is being generated in the liquid phase at a constant but very small rate, Q. . Assume that temperature gradients are absent in the bulk of both phases. Answer the following questions.

Vapour

Vapour

Vapour

H Liquid z

H Liquid z

H Liquid z

R (i) (ii)

R (iii)

Figure for problem 1. a Figure shows several volumetric regions identied by dashed lines. In (i) the top dashed line always coincides with the vapor-liquid interface. Which of the marked volumes can represent a system, and a stationary control volume with stationary surfaces? b Is this a steady state problem? Is convection absent in one or both phases? Will temperature and or pressure remain constant? c Specify where the boundaries are and write the relevant boundary conditions there. 2 Question is long but answers are short. Read the question before you answer! Hydrogen is being produced from methanol by rst reforming it CH3 OH 2H2 + CO which is an endothermic reaction and has to be conducted at high temperature. The CO in the mixture is then converted by water gas shift reaction CO + H2 O CO2 + H2 This is an exothermic reaction and is to be conducted at low temperature. In order to save energy, an annular microreactor, shown in gure has been designed. The ow is expected to be laminar and we want to use CFD to model the performance of this reactor both with respect to conversion and energy efciency. The following are the geometric details of the reactor: 1. The catalyst layers and the tube walls are thin. 2. Heater is made of a solid. The radius of the heater is Rh and its surface is maintained at a constant temperature Th . The radius of the outer tube of the reactor is Ro . The radius of the inner tube is Ri . For convenience, the radius of the inner surface of the inner tube coated with the reforming catalyst can be denoted by Ri while that of the outer surface of the inner tube + coated with the shift catalyst can be denoted by Ri . 3. The heating begins at z = 0. The catalyst coating begins at z = zc and ends at z = zf . We are interested in specifying boundary conditions in that zone.

+ Radius = R i Steam Radius = R i Products Radius = R i

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Heater
z

Methanol

Radius = R h

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Radius = R o Steam Products

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Figure for problem 2.

Water gas shift catalyst

The intrinsic rates of both reactions are known. Let us denote the intrinsic rate of the reforming reaction by Rr and that of the shift reaction by Rs . Both reactions are catalytic. The catalysts for the two reactions are different as indicated in the gure. It can be assumed all the physical properties are also known. Answer the following questions: (a) Assume that the outer wall loses heat to the ambient at Ta by convection and the heat transfer coefcient is h. Specify all the relevant boundary conditions at the outer wall and the surface of the heater. (b) Specify the boundary condition for the enthalpy balance at the inner wall. Denote the heat liberated by reforming reaction by H1 and its rate by Rs1 and that by shift reaction by H2 and its rate by Rs2 . (c) Should we conduct the reactions as designed or conduct the shift on the inner surface and reforming on the outer surface?