Batch Reactor Experiment Report

Experimental

Four explicit experiments were performed. All the reactions were performed at an ambient temperature of 22.7°C. Before the experiment could proceed it is necessary to calibrate the pump for the continuous flow reactors. It was obtained that 1 rpm is equivalent to 2 mL/min. For all the reactors an initial reactant concentration of 0.08 mole/L of A and 0.04 mole/L of B was used. It is crucial to note that the overall concentration of each reactant was halved upon mixing in all the reactors. Batch reactor

The apparatus for the batch reactor experiment is illustrated in Figure 1.

Figure 1: Experimental setup for a batch reactor.

A 200 mL glass beaker was filled with 100 mL of reactant A and B, respectively. A magnetic stirrer

A 6 mm diameter tube that is more than 20 m long was used for the PFR. This translates to a reactor volume of 300 mL. The conductivity probe was inserted into a plastic tube at the top of the PFR. This tube corresponds to the exit of the PFR. As soon as the reaction mixture leaves the PFR it flows over the probe and conductivity can be obtained. Since only the exit concentration is measured, it is necessary to express the concentration relative to residence time. Again it was necessary to let the PFR run for a time period that exceeds the residence time. Two flow rates of 30 and 50 mL/min was used. Cleaning

It is always important to leave a work bench in the same state that it was found. All glass wear was washed and dried. All spills were wiped up and the pumps and magnetic stirrers were switched off. The conductivity probe was cleaned with distilled water and dried. Results and discussion

It is necessary to determine the reaction kinetics. The main aim is to determine it through the use of one reactor and compare it to the results in other reactors. The hypothesis is that the reaction kinetics is independent of the reactor used. It was chosen to determine the kinetics through the use of the CSTR. For simplicity it was chosen to plot the conversion of component B against the residence

When new reactants enter the PFR it is not diluted with the reaction mixture present in the reactor. The new reactants start to react in a way that can be described as a batch reactor. There is no axial mixing, so in effect the PFR can be described as ideal non-mixing.

A batch reactor will just keep on reacting until the reaction mixture is removed and further processed. It is necessary to compare the conversion between a batch reactor and PFR. The residence time of about 10 minutes was chosen to compare the batch reactor and the PFR. From Figure 6 it is clear that the PFR has a conversion of about 80%. On Figure 7 the conversion at 600 seconds is also about 80%. It is clear that the PFR and the batch reactor have virtually the same conversion if both are left for the same time period. This proves that the PFR can be seen as multiple batch reactors on a conveyor belt.

Conclusions and recommendations

The reaction kinetics was determined through the use of the continuous flow stirrer reactor tank. The kinetics is listed in Table 1 and the complete rate equation is given below.

Table 2: The reaction kinetics determined from the CSTR. k 5.16 L/(mole∙min) n 1

m