Reactors in series

Jose Miguel Gomez Lombo A01751907

03/10/2022

1.0 - Objective
Study the behavior of a series of continuously stirred tanks on a CSTR reactor, we have to carry out the
saponification reaction of ethyl acetate in continuously stirred tanks with ideal mixing. Analyze the
relationship between the conversion of the chemical reaction and the feed flow rate. and compare and
verify the results with values reported in the literature.

2.0 - Introduction
Chemical reactions in chemical processes are performed inside chemical reactors. In this case we are
using a CSTR reactor in series. This type of reactor is a flow type reactor which is operated on a steady
state and in an open system mode which is mostly used in the sector of food production, pharmaceuticals
and chemicals industry areas.
CSTRs are used for liquid homogeneous reactions with uniform and perfectly mixing consideration. The
arrangement of CSTRs can be in a large single reactor or small reactors connected in parallel or in series
that always operate under steady state conditions.
In the CSTR reaction rate depends on the agitation rate, temperature, flow rate and residence time not on
the concentration of the reaction.

The reaction that will take place inside the 3 reactors in series is the following:

3.0 - Mechanism and materials

For this experiment we used a CSTR in series.

The mechanism works with two large tanks where we put the reactants that will take part in the
reaction;The reactants are then pumped at the same flow rate into the CSTRs where they will mix and
transferred into the next one until the end of the process. We assume an ideal mixture inside the reactors.

Materials:
• 1 Stopwatch
• 3 CSTR reactors

4.0 - Methodology
1. Adjust the revolution per minute of the pumps to the desired flow.
2. Prepare 5 liters of NaOH solution and Ethyl Acetate 0.05 M and pour them into their respective
feed tanks verifying that the drain valves are closed.
3. Adjust revolutions to the smallest flow. Turn on the switch of the pumps.
4. Immediately take data on the conductivities of all reactors used. It will be measured every minute until
constant readings are reached.

5.0 - Data and calculations

For the first run we adjusted the pumps to give us an equal volumetric flow rate for NAOH and ethyl
acetate of 70 milliliters per minute. For this run the conductivity measurements were taken every 3
minutes.

For the second run we adjusted the pumps to give us an equal volumetric flow rate of the two
components of 100 milliliters per minute. Each measurement was taken every minute.

With the data taken we proceeded to calculate the concentration of NAOH at each reactor using the
following method:
Inside the reactor we have the following reaction

Conductivities of ethyl acetate and ethanol are despreciable, so the conductivity of the reactive mixture
depends only on the concentrations of NAOH and NaAc.

The conductivity of the electric material inside the mixture (ions and cations) is proportional to its molar
concentration.

With the proportionality constants (m) and the concentration of NaAc on function with the concentration
of NAOH we can determine the concentration of NAOH at different points in time with the following
equation.

We calculated de proportionality constants for each reactant by dividing its conductivity at the start of the
process which is of 10.77 ms/cm and divided it by its concentration. With all this data we proceed to
calculate the concentration of NAOH with the equation seen before.

1 run; 𝑣0 = 140 𝑚𝑙/𝑚𝑖𝑛; 𝐶𝑎0 = 0. 05 𝑀

In this first run we reached an equilibrium at about 22 minutes, after analyzing the data we can see that the
concentration of NAOH didn't go much lower than that of the initial concentration and the values for
reactor 1 and 2 are relatively constant it is in reactor 3 where the concentration starts to decrease;
Conversion rates for each reactor where calculated with the following equation

(𝐶𝑎0−𝐶𝑎𝑖)
𝑥𝑖 = 𝐶𝑎0

where Ca0 is the initial concentration of NAOH and Cai is the concentration at each point of the system
meaning that for the calculation of x2 and x3 the initial concentrations were Ca1 and Ca2 respectively.

These values are too low for this kind of reaction; factors like rotacion speed of the rotors or volumetric
flow can’t affect in such a big way the conversion of reaction, so the proportionality constants are wrong
(NAOH = 74 and NaAc = 140) or the purity of the prepared solutions should be checked and done again.

The same methodology of calculation was used for the second run; we can see the results below.

2 run; 𝑣0 = 200 𝑚𝑙/𝑚𝑖𝑛 ; Ca0 = 0.05 M

For the second run equilibrium was reached at the 12 minute mark, meaning that with higher volumetric
flow the faster equilibrium in the system is reached. On the second run we can see that the concentration
of NAOH is decreasing on each reactor but in the same way as the first run the conversion rates are also
low

On both runs we tried using different proportionality constants for each component of the reaction but for
every other value tried the equation used for the concentration gave concentrations lower than zero or
higher than the initial concentration of NAOH.

For comparison we used a paper from the international journal of scientific research in chemical sciences
in which the authors made the same kind of experiment as us. It's an investigation study of a three-stage
continuous stirred tank reactor for an ethyl acetate reaction with the use of NAOH. The same volumetric
flows were used for each of the components set at 70 and 100 ml/min; comparing and analyzing their
results we can see a huge difference in their conversion rates with ours, giving them a relatively constant
conversion rate in each reactor of about 60-70% on each run. For a better analysis of the system readings
and calculations should be done again being a priority checking the reactants and the products to make
sure a good reaction is done.

6.0 - Conclusión

On our first usage of a reactor in the laboratory we achieved a better understanding of a three stage
continuous stirred tank reactor. The usage of this kind of machines should not be taken lightly and the
understanding of each of its components and the how to of the mechanism should be thoroughly studied.

We didn't get satisfactory results; the great difference in our conversion rates in comparison to the ones we
found in the literature can't make our results valid and it's recommended to get other conductivity readings
from the CSTR reactor again.
Citas en Formato APA

Melesse, E. Y., Jima, S. W., Gebremeariam, M. K., Asrat, Z. B., Gesese, D. A., & Dubero, A. A.
(2021). Investigation the Effect of Agitation and Flow Rate in Three-Stage Continuous Stirred Tank
Reactors Connected In Series for Ethyl Acetatesaponification Reaction. Int. J. Sci. Res. in
Chemical Sciences Vol, 8(1).