CHEMICAL REACTOR DESIGN

7TH SEM, B.TECH. CHEMICAL ENGG.

Lecture-6 : Fluid-Particle Reactors: Design

(Examples)

Subject Teacher - Dr. S.R.Mote

 Examples on Mixed Flow of Particles of a Single Size, Uniform
Gas Composition
EX. 1) A stream of particles of one size are 80% converted (SCM/ash diffusion
control, uniform gas environment) on passing through a reactor. If the
reactor is made twice the size but with the same gas environment, same
feed rate, and same flow pattern of solids, what would be the conversion
of solids? The solids are in plug flow.
Solution: Given that particle conversion follows shrinking core model with
ash diffusion as controlling mechanism.
Conversion = 80%, i.e. XB =0.8
To find: Conversion when the size of reactor is doubled.
Feed rate, flow pattern, gas environment are considered constant.
The solids are in plug flow.
When ash layer diffusion controls,
tp is the residence time of particles in the reactor.
 Is the time required for complete conversion of particles.
On doubling the size of the reactor, the residence time will double, but
the time required for complete conversion will remain constant.

By trial and error method,

EX. 2) A solid feed consisting of
20 wt% of 1-mm particles
30 wt% of 2-mm particles
50 wt% of 4-mm particles
passes through a rotating tubular reactor somewhat like a cement kiln where it
reacts with gas to give a hard non-friable solid product (SCM/reaction control,
 = 4 h for 4-mm particles).
1. Find the residence time needed for 100% conversion of solids.
2. Find the mean conversion of the solids for a residence time of 15 min.
Solution: Given that particle conversion follows shrinking core model with
chemical reaction as controlling mechanism in a tubular reactor like
cement kiln.
1. Therefore the flow of solid and gas are in plug manner. For SCM/Chemical
reaction control, we have

i.e.   R

Given that =4 hr for 4-mm particles.

Hence,
For 2-mm particles, =2 hr
For 1-mm particles, =1 hr

2. To find mean conversion of solids

For chemical reaction controlling,

Given that residence time of solids, tp = 15 min

1 = 1 hr = 60 min
2 = 2 hr = 120 min
4 = 4 hr = 240 min
For 1-mm particle,

For 2-mm particle,

For 4-mm particle,

Overall mean conversion is

Xb = (0.2 x 0.577) + (0.3 x 0.331) + (0.5 x 0.176)
= 0.3027 = 30.27%
Mixed Flow of a Size Mixture of Particles of Unchanging Size,
Uniform Gas Composition
 Often a range of particle sizes is used as feed to a mixed flow reactor. For
such a feed and a single-exit stream (no elutriation of the fines), we
consider a fluidized bed reactor.
 Since the exit stream is representative of the bed conditions, the size
distributions of the bed as well as the feed and exit streams are all
similar, i.e.
 F is total quantity of solid being treated in unit time and F(Ri) is the
quantity of material of size Ri fed to the reactor.
 W is total quantity of material in the reactor and W(Ri) is the quantity of
material of size Ri in the reactor.
 For mixed flow of solid particles of different sizes, the mean residence time
t(Ri) of material of any size Ri is equal to the mean residence time of solid
in the bed ( t ).

 Let XB(Ri) be the mean conversion of particles of size Ri in the bed, then

 Since the feed consists of particles of different sizes; hence the overall mean
of B unconverted in all these sizes is
Combining above two equations and replacing the resistance
control equations, we get
1. Gas film diffusion controlling,

2. Ash layer diffusion controlling,

3. Chemical reaction controlling,
 Solution:
As it is a fluidized bed reactor, the solids are in mixed flow.
As can be seen from given data that t  R, hence the chemical reaction is the
rate controlling step.
Therefore,
Hence, the mean conversion of solid is
XB = 1 – 0.222 = 0.778 = 77.8%