04-CHEM-A4, CHEMICAL REACTOR ENGINEERING

MAY 2015 Page 1 of 6

3 hours Duration

1. If doubt exists as to the interpretation of any question, please submit

with your answer a clear statement of any assumptions) you make. If
possible, please underline or enclose any such statement in a box.

2. This is an OPEN BOOK EXAM. You may bring to this exam

➢ the official designated textbook by Fogler -any edition -annotated in

margins, etc. as desired. No loose notes allowed.
➢ your own unit conversion tables and/or mathematical tables such
as a CRC Handbook.
➢ anon-communicating, programmable electronic calculator using a
small operating guide. Please write the name and model of your
calculator on the first inside left-hand sheet of the exam workbook.

3. Graph paper will be provided.

4. Any four questions constitute a complete paper and, unless you

indicate otherwise, only the first four answers as they appear in your
answer booklet will be marked.

5. Each question is worth 20 points. Marking schemes are provided in

brackets after each question.

6. Technical content is the key ingredient in your answers. However, no

credit will be given for deriving rate expressions, or standard
formulas that are available in the textbook. Clear writing is essential,
particularly when explanations are required.

7. It will help the examiner if you could cite the origin of significant
formula used - e.g., Fogler, eq. (3-44).

Marking Scheme -Four questions comprise a complete exam.

1. 20 points
2. 20 points
3. 20 points - a) 10 points, b) 10 points
4. 20 points
5. 20 points

04-Chem-A4, May 2015

 QUESTION 1 Page 2 of 6

Ethyl acetate (CH3COOC2H5) is to be manufactured by the esterification of

acetic acid (CH3COOH) with ethanol (CZH50H) in an isothermal batch
reactor as shown below:

CH3COOH (A) + C2H50H (B) = CH3COOC2H5 (C) + H2O (D)

A production rate of 10,000 kg/day of ethyl acetate is required. The

reactor will be charged with a mixture containing 500 kg/m3 ethanol, 250
kg/m3 acetic acid, the remainder being water, and very small quantity of
hydrochloric acid as a catalyst. The density of this mixture is 1045 kg/m3,
which will be assumed constant throughout the reaction. The reaction is
reversible with a rate equation given by

t'q= kfCgCg—~Cr CC Cp

At the operating temperature of 100 °C, the rate constants have the
following values:

kf = 8 x 10-6 m3/kmol.s

kr = 2.7 x 10-6 m3/kmol. s

The reaction mixture will be discharged when the conversion of acetic acid
is 30%. A time of 30 minutes is required for discharging, cleaning, and
recharging. Determine the volume of reactor required.

04-Chem-A4, May 2015

QUESTION 2 Page 3 of 6

The second order aqueous reaction

A+BAR+S

is run in a large tank reactor (V = 6 m3) and for an equimolar food stream
(CAo = CBo) conversion of reactants is 60%. Unfortunately, agitation in the
reactor is rather inadequate and tracer tests of the flow within the reactor
give the flow model shown below which includes a 4 m3 dead zone:

What size of mixed flow reactor will equal the performance of the unit shown?

04-Chem-A4, May 2015

QUESTION 3 Page 4 of 6

Calculations show that a plug flow reactor would give 99.9% conversion of
reactant, which is in aqueous solution. However, the reactor has a
residence time distribution as shown in the figure below:

c,-~ --~-~-~ ... ~~r~ s~rmt~ri~al tr`s~r~~ul~r ~~s~ri~u~~~n

~~ ~_~

The variance for a symmetrical triangle with base "a" rotating about its
centre of gravity is given by 62 = a2/24

(a) If CAo = 1000, what outlet concentration can we expect in the reactor
for a first order reaction?

(b) Repeat part (a) using the tanks-in-series model.

04-Chem-A4, May 2015

QUESTION 4 Page 5 of 6

Laboratory experiments on an irreversible, homogeneous gas-phase reaction

ZA+B~2C

have shown the reaction rate constant to be 1 x 105 L2/mol2.s at 500 °C. Analysis
of isothermal data from this reaction has indicated that a rate expression of the
form

-rA = kCACB2

provides an adequate representation for the data at 500 °C and 1 atm total
pressure. Calculate the volume of an isothermal, isobaric plug-glow reactor that
would be required to process 6 L/s of a feed gas containing 25% A, 25 % B, and
50% inerts by volume for a fractional conversion of 90% of component A.

04-Chem-A4, May 2015

QUESTION 5 Page 6 of 6

Kinetic experiments on the solid catalyzed reaction

A ~ 3R

are conducted at 8 atm and 700 °C in a mixed reactor 960 cm3 in volume
and containing 1 gram of catalyst of diameter dP = 3 mm. Feed consisting
of pure A is introduced at various rates into the reactor and the partial
pressure of A in the exit stream is measured for each feed rate as shown
below:

Volumetric Feed Rate, Vo Partial Pressure

pA,out~pA,in
(in liters per hour)

100 0.8

22 0.5

4 0.2

1 0.1

0.6 0.05

Find a rate equation to represent the rate of reaction on catalyst of this

size.

04-Chem-A4, May 2015

 The Periodic Table of the Elements
18
"Yd19e" Aikali metals Helium
Element name Mercury
Alkaline earth metals 2
H Transition metals 80 Atomic # He
1.01 2 Other metals 4.00
13 14 15 16 17
nnetailoids (semi-metal) Symbol ■/~■
Lithium Beryllium Nonmetals M Boron Carbon Nitrogen Oxygen Fluorine Neon
3 4 Halogens r 5 6 7 8 9 10
Li Be Noble gases 200.59 Avg. Mass g C N O F Ne
6.94 9.01 10.81 12.01 14.01 16.00 19.00 20.18

Sodium Magnesium Aluminum Silicon Phosphorus Suttur Chlorine Argon

11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
Na Mg AI Si P S CI Ar
22.99 24.31 26.98 28.09 30.97 32.07 35.45 39.95
3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Potassium Callum Scantlium Titanium Vanatlium Chromium Manganese Iron Cobalt Nickel Copper Zinc Gallium Germanium Arsenic Selenium Bromine Krypton
79 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36
K Ca Sc Ti V Cr Mn Fe Co Ni Cu Zn Ga Ge As Se Br Kr
39.10 40.08 44.96 47.88 50.94 52.00 54.94 55.85 58.93 58.69 63.55 65.39 69.72 72.61 74.92 78.96 79.90 83.80

RuOiCium Strontium Yttrium Zirconium Niobium Molybdenum Technetium Ruthenium R~otlium Pallatlium Silver Catlmium Intlium Tin Antimony Tellurium Iodine Xenon
37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54
Rb Sr Y Zr Nb Mo Tc Ru Rh Pd Ag Cd In Sn Sb Te I Xe
85.47 87.62 88.91 91.22 92.91 95.94 (98) 101.07 102.91 106.42 107.87 112.41 114.82 118.71 121.76 127.60 126.90 131.29

Cesium Barium Lutetium Hatnium Tantalum Tungsten Rhenium Osmium Iritlium Platinum Goltl Mercury Thallium Leatl Bismuth Polonium Astatine Ratlon
55 56 57-70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86
Cs Ba Lu Hf Ta W Re Os Ir Pt Au Hg TI Pb Bi Po At Rn
132.91 137.33 174.97 178.49 180.95 183.84 186.21 190.23 192.22 195.08 196.97 200.59 204.38 207.20 208.98 (209) (210) (222)

Francium Radium Lavrtencium RutheAordium DuDnium Seaborgium Bo~rium Hassium Meitnerium Darmstatl[ium RoeMgenium Copernicium Unwririum Ununquatlium Ununpentium Ununheadum Ununseptium Ununoaium
87 $$ 89-102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118
Fr Ra ** Lr Rf Db Sg Bh Hs Mt Ds Rg Cn Uut Uuq Uup Uuh Uus Uuo
(223) (226) (262) (267) (268) (271) (272) (270) (276) (281) (280) (285) (284) (289) (288) (293) (294?) (294)

Lanthanum Cerium Praseotlymium Neotlymium Promethium Samarium Europium Gatlolinium Terbium Dysprosium Holmium Erbium Thulium Ytterbium
57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70
"lanthanides La Ce Pr Nd Pm Sm Eu Gd Tb Dy Ho Er Tm Yb
138.91 140.12 140.91 144.24 (145) 150.36 151.97 157.25 158.93 162.50 164.93 167.26 168.93 173.04

Actinium Thorium Protactinium U2nium Neptunium Plutonium Americium Curium Berkelium Californium Einsteinium Fermium Mentlelevium Nobelium
89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102
**actinides Ac Th Pa U Np Pu Am Cm Bk Cf Es Fm Md No
(227) 232.04 231.04 238.03 (237) (244) (243) (247) (247) (251) (252) (257) (258) (259)
 i

i
1 _ ~