The irreversible vapor phase cracking of acetone (A) to ketone (B) and methane (C) is carried

out adiabatically in a plug flow reactor. The reaction is first order with respect to acetone and the
rate is given by,
−𝑟 𝐴=𝑘 𝐶 𝐴

𝑔𝑚𝑜𝑙
𝐶 𝐴 is the concentration of acetone in 3
𝑚
The rate constant 𝑘 can be expressed as,
34222
ln 𝑘=34.34 −
𝑇

T is the absolute reaction temperature. For a gas-phase reaction, the concentration of acetone can
be calculated as,
1000 𝑦 𝐴 𝑃
𝐶 𝐴= , where R is the universal gas constant, 𝑦 𝐴 is the mole fraction of acetone, and
𝑅𝑇
𝑃 is the total pressure. Enthalpy of reaction is given as,

∆𝐻 ( 𝑚𝑜𝑙𝐽 )=80770+6.8 ( 𝑇 − 298) − 0.00575 (𝑇 −298 ) − 1.27 ×10

2 2 −6
( 𝑇 3 − 2983 )

Specific heat capacities ( 𝑚𝑜𝑙𝐽 . 𝐾 )as a function of temperatures are given as,
−6 2
𝐶 𝑃𝐴=26.2+0.183 𝑇 − 45.86 × 10 𝑇
−6 2
𝐶 𝑃𝐵=20.04+0.0945 𝑇 − 30.95× 10 𝑇
−6 2
𝐶 𝑃𝐶=13.39+0.077 𝑇 − 18.91× 10 𝑇

In order to increase the conversion of acetone, it is suggested to feed nitrogen along with the
acetone into the reactor.
−8 2
𝐶 𝑃𝑁=6.25+0.00878 𝑇 −2.1 ×10 𝑇

𝑔𝑚𝑜𝑙
The maximum inlet capacity of the reactor in 38.3
𝑠𝑒𝑐

The reactor can operate between 𝑇 =1120to 1150 𝐾

Pressure can be in between 1.6 to 5 𝑎𝑡𝑚

Optimize the system so that the methane flowrate at the reactor outlet is maximized.