The power of

Lievenspiel Plots
It’s all about rates!!!
Introduction
This presentation will mainly deal with the following questions:

• What are Lievenspiel plots?

• How were they derived?

• Why are they important?

What are Lievenspiel plots?

• How were they derived?

• Octave Lievenspiel – Pioneer in reactor design
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octave_Levenspiel)
• Method to compare the differences in mixing of chemical reactors

• Lievenspiel plots - from the mole balances for the limiting reagent:

• Two possible reactor configurations:

• CSTR
• PFR
CSTR Lievenspiel
• First – CSTR mole balance:
𝐹𝐴𝑜 − 𝐹𝐴 = −𝑟𝐴 𝑉 = −𝑟𝐴′ 𝑊

The CSTR mole balance becomes (aqueous system):

𝐶𝐴𝑜 − 𝐶𝐴 = −𝑟𝐴 𝜏 = −𝑟𝐴′ 𝜏𝑚

Therefore:
𝐶𝐴𝑜 − 𝐶𝐴 𝐶𝐴𝑜 − 𝐶𝐴
𝜏= ; 𝜏𝑚 =
−𝑟𝐴 −𝑟𝐴 ′
 And can be graphically represented by:

CSTR Lievenspiel  1  V
C Ao  C A     
  rA  Q

AT EXIT CONDITIONS !
𝐶𝐴𝑜 − 𝐶𝐴 𝐶𝐴𝑜 − 𝐶𝐴
𝜏= ; 𝜏𝑚 = 1
−𝑟𝐴 −𝑟𝐴 ′ (rA ) 𝜏
This can be written as: CA C Ao
CA
1 1
𝜏 = 𝐶𝐴𝑜 − 𝐶𝐴 ; 𝜏𝑚 = 𝐶𝐴𝑜 − 𝐶𝐴
−𝑟𝐴 −𝑟𝐴 ′

NOTE: In all these cases we have only used rA/rA’ and

not the kinetic expressions
Lievenspiel PFR
• Now we move on to the PFR mole balance:

𝑑𝐹𝐴 𝑑𝐹𝐴
= 𝑟𝐴 ; = 𝑟𝐴 ′
𝑑𝑉 𝑑𝑊

Again a liquid phase reactor can be described by:

𝑑𝐶𝐴 𝑑𝐶𝐴
= 𝑟𝐴 ; = 𝑟𝐴 ′
𝑑𝜏 𝑑𝜏𝑚
Lievenspiel PFR
Integrating the equation:
𝑑𝐶𝐴 𝑑𝐶𝐴
= 𝑟𝐴 ; = 𝑟𝐴 ′
𝑑𝜏 𝑑𝜏𝑚
𝐶𝐴 𝜏 𝐶𝐴 𝜏𝑚
𝑑𝐶𝐴 𝑑𝐶𝐴
න = න 𝑑𝜏 ; න = න 𝑑𝜏𝑚
𝐶𝐴𝑜 𝑟𝐴 0 𝐶𝐴𝑜 𝑟𝐴 ′ 0

𝐶𝐴𝑜 𝜏 𝐶𝐴𝑜 𝜏𝑚
−1 −1
න 𝑑𝐶𝐴 = න 𝑑𝜏 ; න 𝑑𝐶𝐴 = න 𝑑𝜏𝑚
𝐶𝐴 𝑟𝐴 0 𝐶𝐴 𝑟𝐴 ′ 0

NOTE: Swapping the boundaries (CAo and CA) gives the -1/rA.
 Lievenspiel PFR
Integrating the equation:
𝐶𝐴𝑜 𝜏
−1 Note that the rate changes as
න 𝑑𝐶𝐴 = න 𝑑𝜏 concentration change and
𝐶𝐴 𝑟𝐴 0 therefore the rate curve is
Graphically representation: followed.

1
(rA )
𝜏
CA C Ao
CA
NOTE: Swapping the boundaries (Cao and CA) gives the -1/rA.
Lievenspiel PFR

NOTE: Again we do not need to have

an expression for the rA/rA’. We just
need to know the values.
Using Lievenspiel plots
• To achieve a certain conversion for a first order reaction, would you
rather use a CSTR or a PFR?
1 1
(rA ) (rA )

CA C Ao CA C Ao
CA CA

See the unnecessary space (catalyst) used.

1
(rA )

CA C Ao
Using Lievenspiel plots
• What about this one?
1
(rA )

C Ao
CA

• The objective for most reactor designs is to minimize  or m. This

implies smaller volume (less catalyst) for a given feed.
• We can now use the Levenspiel plot to find the smallest area. We can
even use different reactors in series.
Using Lievenspiel plots
• So in this case do we use a CSTR?

1
(rA )

C Ao
CA
Using Lievenspiel plots
• Or a PFR?

1
(rA )

C Ao
CA
Using Lievenspiel plots
• Or a CSTR followed by a PFR?

1
(rA )

PFR CSTR

C Ao
CA
Example
Assume an elementary aqueous autocatalytic reaction (this time
elementary – does not always have to be):

𝐴 + 2𝐵 → 4𝐵

Given a rate constant k = 1 L/mol.min and CAo = 2 mol/L and

CBo = 1 mol/L, what
would be the optimal reactor configuration to use if conversions of
30%, 60% and 90% are required?
Example
Answer:
Let’s start by looking at the reaction itself:
The net reaction (overall production of B from A) can be described as:

𝐴 → 2𝐵

BUT!!!!! The reaction rate is still dependent on BOTH A and B

𝑟𝐴 = −𝑘𝐶𝐴 𝐶𝐵
Example
Answer:
Now we need to decide if we need to model the PFR/CSTRs or if there
is an easier way… in this case we only need to plot the Lievenspiel
plot…

For the Lievenspiel plot we need the –rA = kCACB2.

Now by choosing different values for CA we can calculate the CB using

the equation:
𝐶𝐵 = 𝐶𝐵𝑜 + 2(𝐶𝐴𝑜 − 𝐶𝐴 )
Example
Answer:
This yields the following 0.5
figure: 0.45
0.4
0.35
0.3 90%

-1/rA (L.min/mol)
From the figure it can be seen 0.25

that a single CSTR should 0.2

60% 30%
0.15
theoretically be sufficient for 0.1

the 30% and 60% reactors 0.05

0
while a CSTR followed by a 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2

PFR will be the smallest τ CA (mol/L)

Homework
• I have been looking at aqueous systems only, but how would we
determine the optimal design of a gas phase reaction where we have
expansion in the reactor, i.e.

𝐴 → 𝑛𝐵; 𝑛 > 1

Derive a Lievenspiel method to size a reactor like this…