PROBLEM SHEET 1

Non-isothermal Reactor Design

Section 1 Heat of Reaction

1. Determine the standard heat of reaction for the combustion of liquid n-pentane, assuming H2O (l) is a
combustion product.

C5 H12 (l) + 8O2 --> 5 CO2 + 6 H2O

Data:

(H ) 0
f C 5 H12 = −173
kJ/mol

(H ) 0
f CO 2 = −393.5
kJ/mol

(H ) 0
f CO 2 = −285.84
kJ/mol

2. Determine the standard heat of reaction for the dehydrogenation of ethane

Section 2 Questions

1. The oxidation of ammonia is carried out in a

continuous reactor as shown in the figure:
Reactor
4NH3(g) + 5O2(g) → 4NO(g) + 6H 2O(v): 100 mol/s NH3(g)
200 mol/s O2(g)

25C
 Hr = -904.7 kJ/mol .
Assume that the reaction goes to completion (complete
Q kJ/s
conversion of ammonia) and the exit stream has a temperature of 300C. The enthalpy table for the system is
given:

References: NH3(g), O2(g), H2O(v) at 25C and 1atm

Species Fi(in)  Fi(out) 
Hi Hi
(mol/s) kJ/mol (mol/s) kJ/mol
NH3 100  - -
H1
O2 200  FO2 
H2 H3
NO - - FNO 
H4
H2O - - FH2O 
H5

(a) Evaluate all the unknowns in the table above i.e. Fi terms and Hi terms.
•
(b) Evaluate the value of Q (kJ/s) for the system to operate as stated above. Do you need to remove heat
or add heat to the reactor to achieve this?

The following data may be of use:

Species Formula  A x 103 B x 105 C x 108 D x 1012 Range of
Δ H f units of T
(C)
kJ/mol
Ammonia (g) NH3 -46.19 35.15 2.954 0.4421 -6.686 0-1200
Oxygen (g) O2 0 29.1 1.158 -0.6076 1.311 0-1500
Nitric oxide(g) NO +90.37 29.5 0.8188 -0.2925 0.3652 0-3500
Water (l) H2O -285.84 75.4
Water (v) H2O -241.83 33.46 0.6880 0.7604 -3.593 0-1500
Note: formula for Cp [kJ/mol. C] = A + BT + CT2 + DT3

2. A first-order irreversible liquid-phase reaction is to be carried out in an adiabatic batch reactor. The required
conversion is 70% and the vapour pressure of the liquid must not exceed 10 bar. What is the shortest reaction
time that can be used and what should be the initial temperature of the reactor?

The following data are available:

The initial reactant concentration is 2 x 103 mol m-3

The enthalpy of reaction is -5.l x 104 J mol -1
The specific heat of the reactor contents is 2.83x 103 J kg-1 K-1.
The density of the reactor contents is 900 kg m-3.
The rate coefficient for the reaction is equal to 2 x 109.exp (-1.0 x 104 /T) s-1
The vapour pressure of the liquid (irrespective of conversion) is given by
loge P = (-5.0 x 103/T) + 16.67 when P is expressed in bar and T in oK.

3. A 1st order reversible liquid phase isomerisation reaction (see below) is to be carried out adiabatically. The
volumetric flow rate of the feed stream (q o) is required to be 15.8 m3/h. The concentration of A (CAo) in the feed
stream is 9.3 kmol/m3. The feed stream contains only A and an inert species (I). The mole fraction of A in the feed
stream is 0.9. The temperature of the feed stream is 330K.

AB

At 360K, the forward rate constant (k 1) has a value of 31.1h-1. The activation energy for the forward reaction is
known (65.7 kJ/mol). At 333K the value of the equilibrium constant (K C) is 3.03. Some additional thermodynamic
data is available (see table below).

(a) Write out the energy balance for a continuous flow reactor operated adiabatically in order to obtain a
relationship between the reactor temperature (T) and conversion (X).
(b) Calculate the volume of a CSTR necessary to achieve 40% and 70% conversion respectively.
(c) Calculate the volume of a PFR necessary to achieve 40% and 70% conversion respectively.

The following data may be of use:

Species  ~

Δ H f CPi
kJ/mol kJ/mol.K
A (g) -124.7 0.141
B (g) -134.5 0.141
I(g) -152.0 0.161

Standard heats of formation at 25C and 1atm

4. Starting from the basic CSTR energy balance prove that for the liquid phase reaction: 𝐴 → 𝐵, the energy balance

is:
What are the assumptions involved in this equation?

5. For the above question, in the steady state operation of a CSTR, the curves of heat generation and heat remove
are shown in the following figure,
(a) How many steady states are there and at what temperature?
(b) Will the reactor be thermally stable at 390 ̊C or 460? if not how will the reactor behave?
(c) What methods (give two examples) can you use to make thermally stable at 400 ̊C or 450 ̊C?
6. First order, reversible, liquid-phase, exothermic reaction, feed at 300 K, A B
(a) Determine the adiabatic equilibrium conversion at T=300 K, 400 K and 500 K
(b) Determine the adiabaIc equilibrium conversion temperature if pure A is fed to the reactor at a temperature
of 300 K
Data:

7. First order, reversible, liquid-phase, exothermic reaction, feed at 300 K, A B

(a) Assume that 95% of equilibrium is achieved in each reactor. What conversion could be achieved if inter stage
coolers cool the exit streams from two subsequent reactors to 350 K?
(b) Determine the heat transferred in each heat exchanger for a molar flow rate of 40 mol/s. If cooler liquid 𝐶a. =
18 cal/(mol Y K), determine flow rate of cooler liquid, which fed in at 270K and out at 400K.

Data:

8. The irreversible, elementary liquid-phase reaction 2A → B is carried out adiabatically in a flow reactor with
WS=0 and without a pressure drop. The feed contains equal molar amounts of A and an inert liquid (I). At 427.3K
a steady-state achieved at XA= 0.8. The feed enters the reactor at 294 K with v0 = 5 dm3/s and CA0= 1 mol/dm3.
(a) What would be volume of the steady-state CSTR that achieves XA = 0.8 at 427.3K ?
(b) Use the 2-point average rule to numerically estimate the PFR volume required to achieve XA =0.8 at 294K?