KMM308E CHEMICAL REACTION ENGINEERING Spring2024

Homework 5

1. A tubular reactor is to be designed for production of butadiene from butene by the gas phase reaction,
𝐶! 𝐻" → 𝐶! 𝐻# + 𝐻$
The composition of the feed is 10 moles of steam per mole of butene and no butadiene and hydrogen. The reactor
operates at 2 atm with an inlet temperature of 922 K. The reaction follows the first order, irreversible equation for
which the reaction rate constant as a function of temperature is
T, K 922 900 877 855 832
k, h-1 11 4.9 2.04 0.85 0.32
The heat of reaction may be taken as constant and equal to ∆𝐻% = 263.6 𝑐𝑎𝑙/𝑚𝑜𝑙 and ΣΘ& 𝐶'& = 1.2 𝑐𝑎𝑙/𝑚𝑜𝑙 ∙ 𝐾.
a) What would be the volume required to achieve 20% conversion if the reactor operated isothermally at 922 K
with a butene+steam feed rate of 22 lbmol/h.
b) Calculate the reactor volume to achieve 20% conversion of butene for adiabatic operation if the feed rate is 2
lbmol butene/h and 20 lbmol steam/h.

2. Problem 11-9 on page 536.

3. Problem 12-26 on pages 625 and 626.

Due date: April 5, 2024

KMM308E CHEMICAL REACTION ENGINEERING Spring2024
Homework 5

Due date: April 5, 2024