Chemical Engineering

Department
CDB2043 REACTION
ENGINEERING
Chapter 1: Mole Balances
(Part 2)
Ambition is the path to success,
persistence is the vehicle you arrive in
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-Bill Bradley-

Recap:
Previous lecture:
1. Explain the importance of Reaction
Engineering knowledge
2. Define reaction rate
3. Explain the different types of chemical
reactors and their importance

Learning Outcome
At the end of this lecture, students should be
able to:
1. Define general mole balance equation in
relation to reactor design

General Mole Balance Equation

Number of moles of species
A in a system

For species A:

Any REACTOR with volume V

Rate of generation of species

A in a system

IN OUT
OUT +
+ GENERATION
GENERATION =
= ACCUMULATION
ACCUMULATION
IN
FAO

FA

GA

UNIT: moles/time

dNA/dt

General Mole Balance Equation

IN OUT
OUT +
+ GENERATION
GENERATION =
=
IN
ACCUMULATION
ACCUMULATION
FAO
FA
GA
dNA/dt

FA0

FA

UNIT:
moles/time

GA

dN A
dt

BAD NEWS:
Reactor system is RARELY SMALL such that you can
consider all the system variable are SPATIALLY
UNIFORM!!
e.g. temperature, concentration & catalytic activity
HOW DO WE DEAL WITH NON-UNIFORMITY?

GA

rA .V

Only valid if ALL

SYSTEM VARIABLE IS
A CONSTANT!!

e.g. SMALL
VOLUME

General Mole Balance Equation

V

G A,1 rA,1 V1

rA,2

i 1

i 1

G A G A,i rA,i Vi

rA,1

Taking limits: Let M and V 0

V

FA0

FA

rAdV

dN A
dt

GENERAL MOLE BALANCE

EQUATION FOR
REACTOR SYSTEM

Mole Balance For Different Reactor Type

IN OUT
OUT +
+ GENERATION
GENERATION =
=
IN
ACCUMULATION
ACCUMULATION

Batch reactor

dN A
FA0 FA rA dV
dt
dN A
rA .V
dt
V

Mole Balance For Different Reactor Type

IN OUT
OUT +
+ GENERATION
GENERATION =
=
IN
ACCUMULATION
ACCUMULATION

Continuous
stirred tank
reactor (CSTR)

FA0 FA

FA0 FA VrA 0

dN A
rA dV
dt

FA0 FA
rA

Mole Balance For Different Reactor Type

IN OUT
OUT +
+ GENERATION
GENERATION =
=
IN
ACCUMULATION
ACCUMULATION

Plug Flow Reactor

(PFR)

FA0 FA

dN A
rA dV
dt

Mole Balance For Different Reactor Type

Packed Bed Reactor

(PBR)

-rA = mol A reacted

time. mass of
catalyst

SUMMARY
Reactor

Mole Balance

Batch
rAV

dN A
dt

Remarks
Well mix, no
spatial
variation,
unsteady state

CSTR

Well mix, no
spatial
variation,
steady state

PFR

Steady state

PBR

Steady state

Question 1:
The reaction

AB

is to be carried out isothermally in a continuous-flow reactor. Calculate

both the CSTR and PFR reactor volumes necessary to consume 99% of
A (i.e CA = 0.01CA0) when the entering molar flow rate is 5 mol/h,
assuming the reaction rate rA is:
a) rA = k with
b) rA = kCA

with k = 0.0001 s-1

The entering
volumetric flow rate is 10 dm3/h [Note: FA = CAv. For a
c) rA = kCA2 with
constant volumetric flow rate v = v0, then FA = CAv0. Also, CA0 = FA0/ v0 ].

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Question 2:

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Summary
At this point, students should be able to:
1. Define general mole balance equation in
relation to reactor design

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END OF LECTURE

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