Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering 1

CN2105 Reaction Engineering

Unit 0:
Briefing and Introduction

YAN Ning LIN Yiliang

Lecturers Prof. Ning Yan, 2023/2024 Sem 2

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Course Outline
• Basic Concepts in Chemical Kinetics
• Design Equations for Ideal Reactors
• Analysis of Rate Data
• Reactor Design for Single Reactions YAN Ning
• Reactor Design for Multiple Reactions
• Non-Isothermal Reactions (e-learning) Week 1 to week 6

• Non-Ideal Flow Reactors

• Kinetics of Heterogeneous Catalysis & the Design of Catalytic Reactors
• Mass-Transfer Resistance in Heterogeneous Reactions

Week 7 to week 13

LIN Yiliang
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Learning Outcomes

• Understand the central concepts of chemical kinetics;

• Analyze rate measurements and derive chemical kinetics
model;
• Design and optimize chemical reactors;
• Solve chemical kinetics problems coupled with transport
processes;
• Diagnose reactor operations and solve a variety of reactor
problems.
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Textbook

• Textbook
Levenspiel, Octave.,
“Chemical reaction engineering”,
3rd Ed., 1999

Fogler, H. Scott.
“Elements of chemical reaction
engineering”,
4th Ed., 2014
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Time and Venue
• Lectures
• L1: Monday, 10:00 – 11:00, LT6
• L2: Wednesday, 11:00 – 13:00, LT6
• Tutorials
T1 Monday 1300 1400
T2 Monday 1400 1500 Class room learning (E5-03-21)
T3 Monday 1500 1600
T4 Tuesday 1300 1400
T5 Tuesday 1400 1500 Class room learning (E5-03-22)
T6 Tuesday 1500 1600

For part 1: tutorials start in week 2, finishes in week 6; for part 2, tutorials start in week 8, finishes in week 13;
For week 7, tutorials are turned into consultations (E5-02-37)
For 12-Feb (public holiday), no lecture, no tutorial. A tutorial video will be uploaded for home learning.
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Course Assessment

• Weekly homework (10 %)

How: Submit via Canvas: Assignments
Deadline: Every Sunday, 11:59 pm, start from week 1!
Format: write on paper, take picture, convert to pdf
Group size: 1-3 (every group get the same mark!)
Make sure to include your names and matrix numbers when you work in groups.
Late submission: NOT allowed in the system

• Quizzes
• Q1: 15%, MCQs, week 7 (04-Mar, 10-11 am)
• Q2: 15%, Week 13 (last teaching week), format to be announced

• Final exam
• 60%, time and format to be announced
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Homework and extra assignment

• Will be delivered to you one week in advance

• “Homework” problems need to be submitted, marked and discussed
in tutorial class
• Extra assignment is optional. No need to submit. Most will not be
discussed in tutorial class
• Answers will be announced one week later

✓ Assignments will be distributed from week 1. I.e., homework 1

submission deadline is 21-Jan.
✓ Tutorials start from week 2!
✓ For the last assignment in part one, no tutorial class will be given
but detailed answers will be released.
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Consultations (part 1, week 1 to recess week)

Location: E5-02-37
Time: 11-12 noon, 4-5 pm Monday; 4-5 pm Tuesday;
Also can be done before or after lectures/tutorials;
Or send email for short, fast questions;
A few slots will be added to the reading week later to prepare for final exam.
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From chemistry to chemical engineering

This module focuses on engineering aspects

of chemical reactions
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Reactors are everywhere: a cooking pot

1. Clean two hens, stuff each hen
with rice, 1 ginseng, 1 jujube, and 8
garlic cloves. Place the hens into a
heavy pot. Put any leftover rice in
the pot. Add 8 cups of cold water.
2. Cook over medium high heat for
30 minutes, turn down the heat to
medium and cook another 40
minutes until the chicken, ginseng,
and rice turn soft.
This is a batch reactor!
Consider:
1) Do we cook in batches or
continuously?
2) Do all ingredients stay the same
time inside the ‘reactor’?
3) What is the temperature and
concentration (for soluble species
such as salt) distribution?
4) Are all ingredients well mixed?

3. Remove from the heat. Place

each hen into 2 individual bowls and
add the chicken and broth. Sprinkle
with chopped green onion and
ground black pepper. Serve with
kimchi.

Reactors are everywhere: a classical P4-6 math question
A primary school math problem: a tap
can fill a tank in 4 hours. Another tap can
empty it in 6 hours. How long will it take
to fill the tank if both taps are open?
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This is a continuous stirred tank reactor!
Consider:
1) Is the reaction in batch or continuous mode?
2) Are all ingredients well mixed?
3) What is the temperature and concentration distribution?
4) Do every molecule stay the same time inside the reactor?
5) What is the average retention time in the reactor?
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Reactors are everywhere: adventure cove waterpark

Target of the ‘reactor’: make a person happy
Rules:
• The water park constantly host 300 people;
• A lucky draw is done every minute, the
chosen one has to leave while a new person
enters the park.

Consider:
Entrance 1) Can you control the move path for a guest
once he/she is inside?
2) Do every person stay for the same time in
the park? What is the minimum and
maximum time for one guest to stay inside?
3) What is the average residence time for
each guest in the park?
4) Is there a guarantee that every person
This is a continuous Exit comes out will be happy?
tank reactor!
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Reactors are everywhere: pizza making

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Reactors are everywhere: pizza making

Consider:
1) Is the reaction in batch or continuous mode?
2) Are different pizza mix with each other?
3) What is the temperature and concentration/state
distribution?
4) Do every pizza stay the same time inside the reactor?
5) What is the retention time in the reactor?

These are the key features of plug flow reactor!

What decides the productivity of pizza?

The type of Pizza? Temperature? Type of ‘reactor’?
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A real chemical plant

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Can you design a H2SO4 production plant?

S + O2 → SO2
2 SO2 + O2 ⇌ 2 SO3
H2SO4 + SO3 → H2S2O7 (oleum)
H2S2O7 + H2O → 2 H2SO4

Target: produce 20 ton 98 wt% sulfuric acid per day in a

safe and economically viable manner
• How much element sulfur is needed per day?
• What are the reaction conditions for each step (time, temperature)?
• What type of reactors should be chosen for each of the four reactions?
• How about the size of the reactors?
• What is the size of the plant?
• What is the investment cost and operation cost of the plant?
Knowledge in Chemical Kinetics and Reactor Design are essential
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What is Chemical Kinetics?

Chemical reaction kinetics, also known as reaction kinetics, provide a quantitative
measurement of rates of reactions.
r = f (T, concentration,
catalyst) (mol•L-1•second-1)

Higher T often leads to higher r;

Catalyst leads to higher r;
Effect of c is complicated

Right or wrong?
At constant temperature, a reaction is
always faster in the beginning and slower
towards the end, since the concentration
of reactant keeps decreasing
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Batch Reactor (Left) and CSTR (right)

Content of leaving stream

= content in reactor
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Plug Flow Reactor (PFR)

Is ideal plug flow achieved under

high or low Reynolds number?

No mixing in axial direction, perfect mixing in radial direction

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What is the type of this reactor, ChBE@NUS?

batch reactor

continuous stirred
tank reactor

• If we regard ChBE as a reactor to transform freshman into

chemical engineers, what is the type of this reactor? Why?
• Can we achieve 100% conversion? If not, what can we do to
enhance conversion, and why don’t we do that? plug flow
reactor
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Real Reactors
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How to choose the type of reactors?

• Production scale?
• Reaction rate?
• Flexibility?
• Easy control of reaction temperature?
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Analogies between cooking devices and chemical reactors

• Which of the common

kitchen appliances can be
regarded as batch, CSTR and
PFR respectively?
• Why do not we use PFR in
cooking?
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Information needed for/generated from reactor design?

For reactor design, we need to know
System boundary

Input Reactor Output

Output = f (input, kinetics, contacting)

Reaction kinetics: Contacting:

• Chemical • Batch
• Physical • Continuous
▪ PFR
▪ CSTR
Via reactor design, we know
At a given conversion, identify the size of a certain type of reactor;
At a given reactor type and size, identify the conversion
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Quiz

What knowledge is the most important for

reactor design/reaction engineering?

A. Thermodynamics
B. Reaction kinetics
C. Heat and mass transfer
D. Mass and energy balance
E. Fluid mechanics
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Nomenclature
• Ai: reaction species i (reactant or product) • R: recycle ratio
• A: surface area • RT: the actual time spent in the reactor
• A: pre-exponential factor in Arrhenius equation • SV: space velocity (𝑣/V)
• AUC: area under the curve • 𝒕𝑭 : fractional life
• 𝒄𝒊 : concentration of species i • 𝒓𝒊 : the reaction rate of species i (positive for
• 𝑬𝒂 : activation energy products and negative for reactants)
• F: fraction of concentration with respect to initial • 𝒓𝒊𝒋 : the reaction rate of species i in reaction j.
𝑐A
value (𝐹 = 𝑐 ) • U: overall heat transfer coefficient
A0
• 𝑭𝒊 : molar flow rate of species I • νi: stoichiometric coefficient of reagent i (< 0 for
• G: Gibbs free energy reactants, > 0 for products)
• hi: molar enthalpy of species i • νij: stoichiometric coefficient of species i in
reaction j
• H: enthalpy
• V: the size of the reaction system (not
• k: reaction rate constant necessarily the size of the reactor)
• K: reaction equilibrium constant • 𝒙𝒊 : conversion of species I
• ሶ mass flow rate
𝒎: • z: compressibility factor
• 𝑵𝒊 : molar amount of species i
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Nomenclature
• 𝜹 : normalized reaction stoichiometry with
respect to species A (𝛿 > 0, mole increases
after reaction; 𝛿 < 0, mole decreases)
𝑁A0
• 𝜺𝑨 = 𝛿
𝑁0
• η: heat transfer coefficient
• 𝜽𝒊 : molar ratio between species i and A at the
beginning of the reaction
• 𝒗: volumetric flow rate
• 𝝃: molar extent of reaction (Δ𝑁𝑖 /νi)
• 𝝉: space time (time necessary to process one
reactor volume of fluid based on the inlet
conditions, V/ 𝑣0 )
𝑟R
• 𝝋𝑹/𝑨 : instantaneous yield ( )
−𝑟A
• 𝜱𝑹/𝑨 : overall yield