Chemical Reactor Design

Mathematical Modeling and Applications

Juan A. Conesa

• Publisher: Wiley-VCH
• Year: 2019
• ISBN:
  9783527823383
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Physical Sciences
• Subtopic: Industrial & Technical Chemistry

A guide to the technical and calculation problems of chemical reactor analysis, scale-up, catalytic and biochemical reactor design Chemical Reactor Design offers a guide to the myriad aspects of reactor design including the use of numerical methods for solving engineering problems. The author - a noted expert on the topic - explores the use of transfer functions to study residence time distributions, convolution and deconvolution curves for reactor characterization, forced-unsteady-state-operation, scale-up of chemical reactors, industrial catalysis, design of multiphasic reactors, biochemical reactors design, as well as the design of multiphase gas-liquid-solid reactors. Chemical Reactor Design contains several examples of calculations and it gives special emphasis on the numerical solutions of differential equations by using the finite differences approximation, which offers the background information for understanding other more complex methods. The book is designed for the chemical engineering academic community and includes case studies on mathematical modeling by using of MatLab software. This important book: - Offers an up-to-date insight into the most important developments in the field of chemical, catalytic, and biochemical reactor engineering
- Contains new aspects such as the use of numerical methods for solving engineering problems, transfer functions to study residence time distributions, and more
- Includes illustrative case studies on MatLab approach, with emphasis on numerical solution of differential equations using the finite differences approximation Written for chemical engineers, mechanical engineers, chemists in industry, complex chemists, bioengineers, and process engineers, Chemical Reactor Design addresses the technical and calculation problems of chemical reactor analysis, scale-up, as well as catalytic and biochemical reactor design.

Part I
Reactor Analysis, Design, and Scale‐up

1
Nonideal Flow

1.1 Introduction

Basic chemical reactors (plug flow reactor or PFR, andcontinuously stirred tank reactor or CSTR) are studied considering their behavior is that of an ideal reactor. Unfortunately, in practice, we often find behaviors that are far from that considered ideal. Consequently, working with them, the chemical engineer must be able to handle and diagnose the behavior of these reactors. At the time of describing the nonideal behavior of a reactor, three concepts are introduced: the residence time distributions (RTDs), the quality of the mixture (not discussed in this book), and the models that can be used to describe the reactor. These three concepts are used to describe the deviations of the mixing assumed in the ideal models and are considered as attributes of the mixture in nonideal reactors.

One way of approaching the study of nonideal reactors is to consider them, in a first approximation, as if the flow model were the one corresponding to a CSTR or a PFR. However, in real reactors, the nonideal flow model implies a minor conversion, so a method that allows for this conversion loss to be considered must be available. Therefore, a higher level of approximation implies the use of information about the RTD.

1.2 Residence Time Distribution (RTD) Function

The idea of introducing the RTD in the analysis of the behavior of reactors occurred thanks to MacMullin and Weber (in 1935), although it was Danckwerts (later, in 1953) who structured this analysis and defined most of the distributions of interest.

In an ideal PFR, all the particles (or units) of material that leave the reactor have remained in it the same time. Analogously, in an ideal (well‐mixed) batch reactor, all part...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Table of Contents
• Preface
• Nomenclature
• Part I: Reactor Analysis, Design, and Scale‐up
• Part II: Catalytic, Multiphase and Biochemical Reactor Design
• Index
• End User License Agreement