DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING,

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING,
LANDMARK UNIVERSITY, OMU-ARAN

Chemical Reaction Engineering II

CHE 416 - 3 Credits

2021/2022 SESSION
COURSE: CHE 416 (Chemical Reaction Engineering II) (3 Units).

Lecturer: ADEREMI, Benjamin Olufemi

B. Eng., M.Eng. (UNIBEN), PhD Chem. Eng. (ABU),. LLB (NOUN), FMSN, MNSChE, MNSE, Reg. Engr. (COREN),

Department of Chemical Engineering,

College of Engineering,
Landmark University, Omu-Aran,
Kwara State, Nigeria.
E-mail: [email protected] ; [email protected]

Office Location: Rm A001, Department of Chemical Engineering, 1st College Building.

Consultation Hours: 1.00-3.00pm Tuesday and Thursday.

2
Course Content
• General introduction to the course
• Classification and types of reactors;
• Ideal reactors’ design equations and methods of operation;
• Material and energy balance concept
• Ideal reactors for a single reaction
• Size comparison of single reactors
• Multiple reactor systems
• Recycle Reactor
• Autocatalytic reactions
• Product distribution in multiple reactions (parallel and series reactions)
• Temperature effect;
• Heat of reaction and temperature
• Equilibrium conversion and thermodynamics
• Modes of operation
• Optimization of yield;
• Product distribution and temperature
 MODULE 1

General introduction, classification and

types of reactors
 LEARNING OBJECTIVES
❖At the end of this module, students should be
able to understand the:
1. fundamentals of chemical reaction
2. kinetics – definition and various forms of rate expressions
3. basic classification of chemical reactions
4. introduction to reactor design
5. sources of information and knowledge required for reactor design
6. concept reactor performance
7. classification of reactor types
8. distinguishing characteristics of major reactor types
9. elements of reactor design
10. application of laws of conservation in reactor design – first
principle
 Course Instructor: Professor B.O. Aderemi
Recommended Texts:
• Lecturer’s note
• Chemical Reaction Engineering 3rd Edition by Octave
Levenspiel;
• The Elements of Chemical Kinetics and Reactor Calculations by
Scott H. Fogler;
• Introduction to Chemical Reaction Engineering and Kinetics by
Ronald W. Missen, Charles A. Mims and Bradley A. Saville
 FIRST STEP TO LEARNING

The first step to knowledge is to know

that we are ignorant
Socrates
470-399BC
 FUNDAMENTALS OF CHEMICAL REACTION

❖ Existence of only two natural/universal entities:

▪ Energy: capacity to do work
▪ Matter: anything that occupy space
❖It is common in Chemical Engineering to emphasis thermal
energy (Thermodynamics)
❖There is no interaction between these two entities at 0K
[assume no electric field or other forms of energy]
❖As temperature increase from 0K, it produces an action
[increase in kinetic energy or random motion of the
particles]
❑ Einstein theory
• Energy
• Their convertibility
❑ Heat: lowest form of energy
❑ Molecules are at rest at 0 K
❑ Effects of temperature rise
❖Collision
❖Reaction
➢What exactly happens is a function of the quality &
quantity of energy concerned
- Bouncing off
- Stick together
- Break in pieces
- Change in orientation etc.
❖Newton’s Third law of motion comes to play –
action produces equal but in opposite direction a
reaction by the matter. Equilibrium phenomenon
❖ There are several forms of matters’ reaction to
actions instigated by energy
❖Chemical reaction is just one form of these
reactions
❖Thus, chemical reaction is defined as change in
chemical identity of a chemical specie either in
configuration, number or type of atoms in
reaction to the energy working on it
❖As it is in linear motion, matters will always want
to remain in their native form [First law of
motion or inertia]
❖It is this above phenomenon often referred to as
activation barrier [friction] chemical resistance in
chemical reaction science
❖If there is enough energy to over come this
mentioned resistance any of the following may
result in loss/ change of identity
▪ Decomposition
▪ Coupling
▪ Change in atomic arrangement (Isomerization)

[breaking or /and making of bonds]

Models

Decomposition
Breaking of
bond(s)

Ethane (C2H6)
Methane
Methane (CH4)
(CH4)
 +
Carbon dioxide,
CO2

+
Methane, Oxygen, O2
CH4

Water (H2O)
Model Cont’d…

Change in atomic arrangement

Breaking and making of bonds

2,4-dimethylpentane (cis) 2,4-dimethylpentane (trans)

 KINETICS OF CHEMICAL REACTIONS
❖Having established the possibilities of a given chemical
reaction, the next important phenomena to inquire of the
rate at which the said reaction is taking place

❖Definition: the rate of a chemical reaction can therefore be

defined as the rate at which a given chemical specie loses its
identity

❖In other words, it is the rate of disappearance of a reactant

or formation {if product} of a given chemical specie taking
part in a chemical reaction.

❖For convenience, the unit of mole is often chosen as a

measurable quantity and based on unit volume of the
reaction medium
❖Other basis exist i.e. area, weight e.t.c.
Definition
This variousforms of rate definitions can be
expressed mathematically as follows:
a. Based on unit volume of reacting fluid:

1 dN p moles of product formed

rp = =
( vol.of fluid )( time )
………….. (1)
V dt
b. Based on unit surface area of solid or interface
surface area between two immiscible liquids
…………….. (2)

1 dN p moles of product formed

r 'p = =
S dt ( surface area )(time )
 c.Based on unit mass of solid in fluid-solid
systems:
1 dN p moles of product formed
r "p = =
W dt ( mass of solid )(time ) ……… (3)

d. Based on unit volume of solid in gas-solid systems:

1 dN p moles of product formed
r "' p = = …………….. (4)
Vs dt ( volume of solid )(time )
e. Based on unit volume of reactor:

1 dN p moles of product formed

r "'' p = =
Vr dt ( volume of reactor )(time )
……………… (5)
Basic Concepts

➢Elementary reaction: rate equation corresponds to the

stoichiometric equation i.e.
A+B R
-rA = kCACB
➢ Non-elementary reaction: No correspondence
between rate and stoichiometric i.e
H2 + Br2 2HBr

k1[ H 2 ][ Br2 ]1/ 2

rHBr =
k 2 + [ HBr ] /[ Br2 ]
 Molecularity is the number of molecules involved in a given reaction:
CH4 + 2O2 CO2 + 2H2O
These stoichiometric coefficients are normally integers 1,2 or 3

Order of reaction: the powers to which the concentration terms are

raised

rA = kCAaCBb…CDd; a+b+..+d =n
ath order with respect to A
bth order with respect to B
nth order overall

Molecularity is equal to order of reaction only for elementary type of

reaction
• Single reaction: sufficiently represented with single
stoichiometric equation and one rate equation as in an
elementary reaction.
A+B R
• In multiple reactions (series or parallel) more than one
rate (kinetic) expression is require to describe the change
in composition:
A R S

S
Recap

• What is the essence of chemical reaction kinetics in reactor design?

• What is the essence of chemical reaction kinetics to reactor analysis?
Introduction to REACTOR DESIGN

• The goal of every industrial chemical process

• Design to produce economically a desired product
• It involves both physical treatment and chemical treatment steps
(See Fig. 1)
• Commonly, the chemical treatment step may be an economically
inconsequential unit
• However, it is often the step that makes or breaks the whole process
economically – the heart of the process
Figure 1: Typical Chemical Process (Levenspiel, 1999)
Reactor Design

• Reactor Design uses information, knowledge and experience from:

• Thermodynamics
• Chemical kinetics
• Fluid mechanics
• Heat transfer
• Mass transfer and
• Economics
What a reactor can do (Performance)
output = f(input, kinetics, contacting)

• The performance of a given reactor is the relationship between the

input and output for a given kinetics and contacting pattern
Broad Reactor Types (classification)
• Ideal Reactors:
• Batch
• Steady-state flow – plug flow or mixed flow reactors
• Unsteady-state flow – semi-batch reactor
• Non-Ideal Reactors:
• Fixed bed
• Fluidized bed
• Slurry
• Trickle bed
• Etc.
Figure 3: Ideal Reactor Types – (a) Batch Reactor, (b)
Plug Flow Reactor, (c), (d), and (e) Semi-batch Reactors
Distinguishing Characteristics of major Reactor Types

Batch Reactor Steady-State Flow Unsteady-State

flow
Simple, requires little Requires great Very flexible to
supporting equipment, ideal supporting equipment, operate but more
for small-scale experimental ideal for large scale difficult to analyze
studies on reaction kinetics production, best for mathematically, it
and small scale industrial fairly high to extremely offers good control of
production; Operation – it is high reactive materials; the reaction speed.
unsteady state because it can deliver extremely Application varies
composition changes with good product quality; from simple
time but uniform Operation – there is a calorimetric titrations
throughout the vessel at steady material flow in to the large open
any given time; no material and out of the reactor hearth furnaces for
transfer while the reaction while the reaction time steel production
time last. last. Commonly used in
oil industry
 What we want to know

• In designing a reactor we want to know

• What size of reactor
• Type of reactor and
• Method of operation, single or multiple reactors in series or parallel
are best for a given job.

What is the difference between reactor design

and reactor analysis?
 Starting Point
• Component material balance is the starting point of any rational reactor
design exercise
• In non-isothermal operations energy balances must be used in conjunction
with material balances
Nuggets
1. Where the composition within the reactor is uniform independent of
position as in MFR, mass balance is made over the whole reactor
2. Where the composition is not uniform, it must be made over a
differential volume and then integrated across the whole reactor for
the appropriate flow and concentration conditions
3. The resultant expression when integrated is the basic performance
equation for that type of unit
4. The material balance of Eq. 1 and the energy balance of Eq. 2 are tied
together by their third terms, because the heat effect is produced by
the reaction itself.
 Essence
• The essence of design is to
• Predict the response of the reacting system to changes in operating conditions i.e. how
reaction rates and equilibrium conversion change with temperature and pressure
• Compare yields from alternative design i.e. adiabatic versus isothermal operations, single
versus multiple reactor units or batch versus flow system
• Estimate the economics of these various alternatives
• Feel sure that we can arrive at the design well fitted for the purpose at hand
 LEARNING OBJECTIVES – Recap
❖At the end of this module, students should be
able to understand the:
1. fundamentals of chemical reaction
2. kinetics – definition and various forms of rate expressions
3. basic classification of chemical reactions
4. introduction to reactor design
5. sources of information and knowledge required for reactor design
6. concept reactor performance
7. classification of reactor types
8. distinguishing characteristics of major reactor types
9. elements of reactor design
10. application of laws of conservation in reactor design – first
principle