A catalytic reactor is used to produce formaldehyde from methanol in the reaction

A single-pass conversion of 60.0% is achieved in the reactor. The methanol in the reactor product is separated from the formaldehyde and
hydrogen in a multiple-unit process. The production rate of formaldehyde is 900.0 kg/h.

a) Calculate the required feed rate of methanol to the process (mol/h) if there is no recycle.
b) Suppose the recovered methanol is recycled to the reactor and the single-pass conversion remains 60%. Without doing any calculations, prove that you
have enough information to determine the required fresh feed rate of methanol (mol/h) and the rates (mol/h) at which methanol enters and leaves the
reactor. Then perform the calculations.
c) The single-pass conversion in the reactor, Xsp, affects the costs of the reactor (Cr) and the separation process and recycle line (Cs). What effect would
you expect an increased Xsp would have on each of these costs for a fixed formaldehyde production rate? (Hint: To get a 100% single-pass conversion
you would need an infinitely large reactor, and lowering the single-pass conversion leads to a need to process greater amounts of fluid through both
process units and the recycle line.) What would you expect a plot of (Cr + Cs) versus Xsp to look like? What does the design specification Xsp = 60%
probably represent?

𝑛1,𝐶𝐻3𝑂𝐻 =? 𝑚𝑜𝑙 𝑛2,𝐶𝐻3𝑂𝐻 =? 𝑚𝑜𝑙

𝑛5,𝐻𝐶𝐻𝑂 = 29.969𝑚𝑜𝑙
𝑛3,𝐻𝐶𝐻𝑂 =? 𝑚𝑜𝑙
𝑛6,𝐻2 =? 𝑚𝑜𝑙
𝑛4,𝐻2 =? 𝑚𝑜𝑙

𝑛7,𝐶𝐻3𝑂𝐻 =? 𝑚𝑜𝑙
Elemento Global Reactor Separador

# incógnitas 3(n1, n6 y n7) 3(n1, n2, n3 y n4) 5(n2, n3, n4, n6 y n7)
# reacciones indep 0 1 0
# ecs indep x especie inertes 0 0 0
# ecs indep x esp atómicas 3(C3OH, HCHO y H2) 3(C3OH, HCHO y H2 3(C3OH, HCHO y H2
# rel auxiliares o restricciones 0 𝑛1−𝑛2 2 (n3=n5 y n4=n6)
1 (0.6 = )
𝑛1

NGL 0 0 0

Balance del separador

Especie CH3OH
1molCH3OH
[Consumo CH3OH] = [29.969molHCHO] [ ] = 29.696mol
1molHCHO

𝑛2 = 𝑛1 𝑚𝑜𝑙𝐶𝐻3𝑂𝐻 − 29.696𝑚𝑜𝑙𝐶𝐻3𝑂𝐻
−0.6𝑛1 + 𝑛1 = 𝑛1 𝑚𝑜𝑙𝐶𝐻3𝑂𝐻 − 29.696𝑚𝑜𝑙𝐶𝐻3𝑂𝐻
0.4𝑛1 = 𝑛1 𝑚𝑜𝑙𝐶𝐻3𝑂𝐻 − 29.696𝑚𝑜𝑙𝐶𝐻3𝑂𝐻
−0.6 𝑛1 𝑚𝑜𝑙𝐶𝐻3𝑂𝐻 = −29.696𝑚𝑜𝑙𝐶𝐻3𝑂𝐻
n1 = 49.493𝑚𝑜𝑙𝐶𝐻3𝑂𝐻

49.493molCH3OH - n2𝑚𝑜𝑙𝐶𝐻3𝑂𝐻
𝑆𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑙𝑒 − 𝑝𝑎𝑠𝑠 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛 = = 0.6
49.493𝑚𝑜𝑙𝐶𝐻3𝑂𝐻
n2=19.797
 𝑛2,𝐶𝐻3𝑂𝐻 =? 𝑚𝑜𝑙
𝑛0,𝐶𝐻3𝑂𝐻 =? 𝑚𝑜𝑙 𝑛1,𝐶𝐻3𝑂𝐻 =? 𝑚𝑜𝑙 𝑛5,𝐻𝐶𝐻𝑂 = 29.969𝑚𝑜𝑙
𝑛3,𝐻𝐶𝐻𝑂 =? 𝑚𝑜𝑙
𝑛6,𝐻2 =? 𝑚𝑜𝑙
𝑛4,𝐻2 =? 𝑚𝑜𝑙

𝑛7,𝐶𝐻3𝑂𝐻 =? 𝑚𝑜𝑙

Elemento Global Reactor Separador Zona de Mezclado

# incógnitas 2 (n1 Y n5 ) 3(n1, n2, n3 y n4) 5(n2, n3, n4, n6 y n7) 3 (n0, n1 y n7)
# reacciones indep 0 1 0 0
# ecs indep x especie inertes 0 0 0 0
# ecs indep x esp atómicas 3(CH3OH, HCHO y H2) 3(CH3OH, HCHO y H2 3(CH3OH, HCHO y H2 1(CH3OH)
# rel auxiliares o restricciones 0 𝑛1−𝑛2 2 (n3=n5, n4=n6 y n2=n7) 0
1 (0.6 = )
𝑛1

NGL 1 0 0 2
Especie CH3OH
1molCH3OH
[Consumo CH3OH] = [29.969molHCHO] [ ] = 29.696mol
1molHCHO

𝑛2 = 𝑛1 𝑚𝑜𝑙𝐶𝐻3𝑂𝐻 − 29.696𝑚𝑜𝑙𝐶𝐻3𝑂𝐻
n7
n7 = − 29.696𝑚𝑜𝑙𝐶𝐻3𝑂𝐻
0.4
𝑛7 = 19.7973𝑚𝑜𝑙𝐶𝐻3𝑂𝐻

n0molCH3OH + n7m𝑜𝑙𝐶𝐻3𝑂𝐻 - n2𝑚𝑜𝑙𝐶𝐻3𝑂𝐻

𝑆𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑙𝑒 − 𝑝𝑎𝑠𝑠 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛 = = 0.6
n0𝑚𝑜𝑙𝐶𝐻3𝑂𝐻 + n7m𝑜𝑙𝐶𝐻3𝑂𝐻
0.6(𝑛0m𝑜𝑙𝐶𝐻3𝑂𝐻) + 0.6(19.7973) = 𝑛0𝑚𝑜𝑙𝐶𝐻3𝑂𝐻 + 19.7973 − 19.7973
0.6(𝑛0m𝑜𝑙𝐶𝐻3𝑂𝐻) + 11.8784 = 𝑛0𝑚𝑜𝑙𝐶𝐻3𝑂𝐻
11.8784 = 0.4(𝑛0m𝑜𝑙𝐶𝐻3𝑂𝐻)
n0 = 29.696
n1=n0+n7
n1=19.7973molCH3OH+29.696molCH3OH=49.4933molCH3OH

Al incrementar Xsp requerirá un reactor más grande con lo que el costo aumentarà y a su vez se tendrá que reducir las cantidades de metanol sin reaccionar y
así disminuirá el costo de la separación

La grafica se asemejaría a una parábola cóncava ascendente con un mínimo alrededor de Xsp=60%

La especificación de Xsp=60% representa a la razón por la que el reactor funciona con esa conversión si conduce al costo de proceso más bajo