ChEg 6112-- Advanced Reaction Engineering

Lecture1

Introduction to Advanced Reaction Engineering

By Dr. Hundessa D. Demsash

4-Dec-17 Dr. Eng. Hundessa Dessalegn, SCBE,AAiT,AAU 1

 What is CRE?
Chemical Reaction Engineering (CRE) is the field
that studies the rates and mechanisms of chemical
reactions and the design of the reactors in which
they take place.
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 Chapter 1
Chemical Reaction Engineering
Chemical reaction engineering is at the heart
of virtually every chemical process.
It separates the chemical engineer from other
engineers.
Industries that Draw Heavily on Chemical
Reaction Engineering (CRE) are:
CPI (Chemical Process Industries)
Examples like Dow, DuPont, Amoco, Chevron

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 Chapter 1
Chemical Identity
A chemical species is said to have reacted
when it has lost its chemical identity.

The identity of a chemical species is

determined by the kind, number, and
configuration of that species atoms.

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Chemical Identity
A chemical species is said to have reacted when
it has lost its chemical identity.
There are three ways for a species to loose its
identity:

1. Decomposition: CH3CH3 H2 + H2C=CH2

2. Combination: N2 + O2 2 NO
3. Isomerization: C2H5CH=CH2 CH2=C(CH3)2

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Introduction: CRE

Consider the chemical conversion /process

2NaCl + 2H2O 2NaOH + H2 + Cl2

There are three levels of understanding to occur the

chemical conversion /process /

1) If a certain condition fulfills a certain

output can be erected with the so called
thermodynamic phenomena
2) The various reactions follow a certain well
defined equation such as Stoichiometric ;
Rate equation

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Introduction: CRE

3) Mechanism, why a certain reaction

path are favored?

o These constitute a mathematical model

which can be used by a chemical engineer
to design a reactor or to control the
performance of a reactor.

o The second and third items namely

Rate and
Mechanism the subject of kinetics.

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General Steps of Conversion
The steps of chemical /conversion can be
stated as:
1. Physical preparation of raw materials
(Refining, Grinding, Distillation etc.)
2. Chemical process with partial conversion
3. Separation of non-converted raw
material (obtained from step 2)
4. Separation of unwanted and wanted
products
o In the above processes, the steps 1, 3 and 4 are
physical treatments and are mainly carried out in unit
operations.
o Step 2 is the chemical treatment process / which is
carried out in the reactors.
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 Algorithm
Separations

Filtration Distillation Adsorption

These topics do not build upon one another.

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Reaction Engineering

Mole Balance Rate Laws Stoichiometry

These topics build upon one another.

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 Algorithm

Heat Effects
Isothermal Design

Stoichiometry
Rate Laws
Mole Balance

CRE Algorithm

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 Algorithm

Mole Balance Rate Laws

Be careful not to cut corners on any of the

CRE building blocks while learning this material!

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 Algorithm

Heat Effects
Isothermal Design

Stoichiometry
Rate Laws

Mole Balance

Otherwise, your Algorithm becomes unstable.

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 The Core objective of Chem. engineer
o to design appropriate reactor and or

o analysis of performance of chemical reactors

Rational
secure quality of the wanted
products with a minimum cost of
production
Chemical reaction
using the tools of
engineering
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Chemical reaction engineering rationality

Raw Materials

Chemical Reaction Engineering

(Reactor)

End Use Products

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Chemical reaction engineering (CRE)
concerned with the rational design and/or
analysis of performance of chemical reactors.

When we say rational design of a reactor

means to determine something about the
reactor:
type,
size,
flow,
thermal configuration,
cost,
operating conditions ,
product distribution, etc.
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 CRE does not provide all the information
required for the reactor design, and

other rate processes are involved in

designing a reactor. Among them are
included :

fluid mechanics,

mixing,

heat transfer, and

diffusion and mass transfer

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 Analysis chemical reactors

Reactors performance is described by

material balance equation and
rate equation

These are also dependent on by reactions

type and operation conditions.

Measured by :

Fraction of unreacted
conversion
Yield
Selectivity

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 Analysis chemical reactors

A chemical reactor
is used to carry out the reaction and we
call it the heart of an overall chemical or
biochemical process

is a device in which change in composition

of matter occurs by chemical reaction
is used as a tool for determining something
about the reacting system: rate of
reaction, and dependence of rate on
various factors, such as concentration of
species (cj) and temperature (T)

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 Also, we can call, a chemical reactor as a
device for involving:

o energy production, as in engines (internal-

combustion, jet, rocket, etc.) and

o in certain electrochemical cells (lead-acid,

fuel),
o in animate objects (e.g., the human
stomach),etc.
The rational design of these are rather
beyond our capabilities

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 o to ensure good designing of a reactor in the chemical
treatment it needs to:

What changes can we

expect to occur?
Thermodynamics
How quickly will they take place?
Rate of a process

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Rates of processes such as
o Chemical kinetics
o Heat transfer and
o Mass transfer.

Information,
knowledge and
experience from the different sciences
such as fluid mechanics, heat transfer,
mass transfer, economics etc.

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 Sustainability

Reactants
Raw materials
Energies Products

Needs
Requires
Laws
Profit
Economies
Satisfaction

Renewability

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Fig. Integrated approach for Chemical reaction Engineering
 In Manufacturing:

Sustainable means to meet current

needs without compromising the ability
of future generation to satisfy their
needs
Sustainability is achieved by:
Minimizing energy and materials usage;

Ensuring acceptable quality of life for

people;

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 Thermodynamics and Kinetics
Imagine in the next Fig., that you are crossing a mountain
range on your way from A to B. You start at point A, and
after walking for some hours you reach point B.

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Thermodynamics and Kinetics
The reaction thermodynamics describe your
elevation at your starting point and your
destination. Conversely, the reaction kinetics
depend on which pathway you have taken.
A chemical reaction cannot be made a conversion beyond that
of chemical equilibrium due to the application of the Second
law of thermodynamics, GR = 0
where GR, Gibbs free energy of the reaction
Thermodynamics in chemical process is concerned with two
main aspects:
1. Heat of reaction the heat liberated (or absorbed) during
reaction

2. The maximum attainable conversion

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 Heat of reaction
Chemical reactions are invariably accompanied
by the liberation or absorption of heat; such type
of reaction is demonstrated as

aA bB cC dD HR
where HR heat of reaction; ( + ) for endothermic
and ( - ) for exothermic

Handling of this heat is a major concern in a chemical

process and therefore, the magnitude of HR must be
known for proper design of chemical process

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Kinetics in the chemical process
Chemical kinetics
is the study of the rate and mechanism in the
reactor
Regardng to the rate:
chemical kinetics
gives us a quantitative description of how
fast chemical reactions occur, and the
factors affecting these rate
Allows us to understand how reaction rates
depends on variables such as C, T, and P
enable us to predict beforehand the rate at
which given chemical substances react, and
to control the rate in some desirable fashion;
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alternatively, chemical kinetics is to enable
us to tailor /change/ chemical reactions
so as to produce substances with desirable
chemical characteristics in a controllable
manner, including choice of an appropriate
catalyst

Kinetics is relevant to many branches of

science and has different understanding of
it. As illustration
The chemist uses kinetics as a tool to
understand fundamental aspects of
reaction pathways (mechanism), a subject
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that continues to evolve with ongoing research.
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 The applied chemist uses this understanding to
devise new and/or better ways [tailor /change/] of
achieving desired chemical reactions. This may involve
improving the yield of desired products or developing a
better catalyst

The chemical engineer uses kinetics as a tool for

reactor design in process engineering

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 Classification of Reactions

According to the number of phases

involved in the reactions (Hom, Hetero)

According to the type of reaction(Sin;Mul)

According to the process nature of the

reaction (Irre; Rev)

According to the conditions of the process

of reactions (T,PV)

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