411-303 Reactor Engineering

Tutorial 1

Problem 1

a. Write down the Arrhenius law representation of the temperature dependence of

the reaction rate and explain each term in the representation

b. At 1100K, n-nonane thermally cracks (i.e. breaks down into smaller molecules)
20 times as rapidly as at 1000K. Find the activation energy for this decomposition
reaction. How much faster is the cracking at 1200K than at 1100K?

c. The statement is commonly made that the rate of a reaction is approximately

doubled for each 10 degree rise in temperature.
Derive a general relation between the temperature and activation energy if the
above statement is true.

Calculate the values of E at 300K, 1000K, 1500K and 2000K.

If E = 104 kJ/mole, what temperature increase is required to double the reaction

rate at each of these temperature?

Problem 2

For the reaction stoichiometry A R and the following tabulated data, is it reasonable
to represent the rate-concentration relationship by an n-th order kinetic expression?
If so, find the reaction order.

i) CA 6.1 8.2 8.5 9.1 13.3

-rA 110 200 200 250 530

ii) CA 420 620 680 910

-rA 1.9 2.8 3.0 4.0

iii) CA 1.8 3.1 3.9

-rA 15 26 33

1
Problem 3

The reaction
A Products

is being carried out isothermally in the liquid phase in a batch reactor. 25% of A is
reacted in 30 minutes when the initial concentration of A is 4 mol/litre.
What percentage of A will react in the same time and at the same temperature if the initial
concentration is 6.4mol/litre and the reaction is:

a. first order irreversible

b. second order irreversible
c. zero order irreversible