INTRODUCTION Chemical reactors are the most important features of a

chemical process. A reactor is a piece of equipment in which the feedstock is converted to the desired product. Various factors are considered in selecting chemical reactors for specific tasks. In addition to economic costs, the chemical engineer is required to choose the right reactor that will give the highest yields and purity, minimize pollution, and maximize profit. Generally, reactors are chosen that will meet the requirements imposed by the reaction mechanisms, rate expressions, and the required production capacity. Other pertinent parameters that must be deter- mined to choose the correct type of reactor are reaction heat, reaction rate constant, heat transfer coefficient, and reactor size. Reaction conditions must also be determined including temperature of the heat transfer medium, temperature of the inlet reaction mixture, inlet composition, and instantaneous temperature of the reaction mixture. An important factor in reactor operation is the outlet degree of conversion. Operating conditions such as temperature, pressure, and degree of agitation, are related for the most economic operation. The optimum reactor that will best meet the process requirements requires a review of whether the process is continuous or batch, and whether a combination of reactor types or multiple reactors in series or parallel would be most adequate. It is also important to determine whether the mode of operation involves either an isothermal (i.e., constant tem- perature) or an adiabatic (i.e., heat does not exchange

with the sur- roundings) condition, whether a single pass operation is best, or whether recycling is needed to achieve the desired degree of con- version of the raw feedstock. The degree of conversion affects the economics of separating the reaction mixture and the costs of returning the unconverted reactant back into the reaction. In chemical laboratories, small flasks and beakers are used for liquid phase reactions. Here, a charge of reactants is added and brought to reaction temperature. The reaction may be held at this condition for a predetermined time before the product is discharged. This batch reactor is characterized by the varying extent of reaction and properties of the reaction mixture with time. In contrast to the flasks are large cylindrical tubes used in the petrochemical industry for the cracking of hydrocarbons. This process is continuous with reactants in the tubes and the products obtained from the exit. The extent of reaction and properties, such as composition and temperature, depend on the posi- tion along the tube and does not depend on the time. Another classification refers to the shape of the vessel. In the case of the laboratory vessel installed with a stirrer, the composition and temperature of the reaction is homogeneous in all parts of the vessel. This type of vessel is classified as a stirred tank or well mixed reactor. Where there is no mixing in the direction of flow as in the cylindrical vessel, it is classified as a plug flow or tubular flow reactor. Knowledge of the composition and temperature at each point of

the reactor enables the designer to describe the behavior of a chemical reactor. Concentrations of species at any point may change either because the species are consumed by chemical reaction or they reach this position via mass transfer. Correspondingly, the temperature at any point may change because the heat is being absorbed or released by chemical reaction or heat transfer. The rate of the chemical reaction and the rate of mass and heat transfer affect the concentration and temperature the of a given ture, rate. section and This of the occurs system. properties through Concentration, determine temperareaction molecular

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microkinetic properties that are identical in any chemical reactor (i.e., if the temperature and composition in two reactors are the same, then the reaction rate is also the same). Macrokinetic properties of the reactor affect the outcome of the process through the kinetics of heat and mass transfer. The rates of mass and heat transfer depend on the properties relative to the reactor, such as size of the reactor, size and speed of the impeller, and the area of heat exchanging surfaces.