PK.FKK.PPM.

MANUAL MAKMAL CHE565

(0)

UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MARA

FAKULTI KEJURUTERAAN KIMA
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING LABORATORY III
(CHE575)

NAME : RM SYIBLI MILASI B R MUHAMAD FAKIH

STUDENT NO. : 2004624828
EXPERIMENT : CONTINUOUS STIRRED TANK REACTOR (CSTR) IN SERIES
DATE PERFORMED : 7TH FEBUARY 2006
SEMESTER :
DISEMBER 2005 – APRIL 2006
PROGRAMME / CODE :
Bachelor of Engineering (Hons.) in Chemical Engineering
/ EH220

No. Title Allocated marks % Marks %

1 Abstract/Summary 5
2 Introduction 5
3 Aims/Objectives 5
4 Theory 5
5 Procedures 3
6 Apparatus 5
7 Results 20
8 Calculations 10
9 Discussions 20
10 Conclusions 10
11 Recommendations 5
12 References 5
13 Appendices 2
TOTAL 100

Remarks:

Checked by: Rechecked by:

DR.RUZITAH
TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT/SUMMARY…………………………….….3
INTRODUCTION………………………………….........3-4
OBJECTIVES……………………………………………4
THEORY……………………………………………......4-8
PROCEDURES………………………………………..8-10
APPARATUS…………………………………………….10
RESULTS……………………………………………11-12
SAMPLE OF CALCULATIONS………………………13
DISCUSSION……………………………………….14-15
CONCLUSION………………………………………….15
RECOMMENDATION………………………………….16
REFERENCES………………………………………….16
APPENDICES…………………………………………...17
SUMMARY
Our experiment involves a continuous stirred tank reactor (CSTR) in series. Our
system consists of 3 agitated, glass reactor vessels in series. Although the concentration is
uniform for each reactor but there is a change in concentration as fluids move over from
reactor to reactor.
Our objective in this experiment is to determine the concentration response to a
step change and pulse input and also to determine the effect of residence time on the
response curve.
1st the deionised water are filled in the both two tanks with the sodium chloride
were diluted in the tank one. Then deionised water from the tank two will flow through to
fill up the three reactors. The flow rate of the deionised water is set to 150 ml/min to
prevent from over flow. The only readings were taken at time to after we get the readings
of the conductivity are stable enough where the readings of the conductivity are quit
similar from one to another. After that, readings are continuously taken every 3 minutes
until to the point that the conductivity values for the three reactors are closed to each
other. Then the graph of the conductivity versus time was plotted
The graph that has been plotted is accordingly to the theory. From the graph we
can determine the effect of the step change and pulse input to the concentration.

INTRODUCTION
In the majority of industrial chemical process, a reactor is the key item of
equipment in which raw materials undergo a chemical change to form desired product.
The design and operation of chemical reactors is thus crucial to the whole success of the
industrial operation.
Reactors can widely form, depending on the nature of the feed materials and the
products. Understanding non-steady behavior of process equipment is necessary for
design and operation of automatic control systems. One particular type of process
equipment is the continuous stirred tank reactor. In this reactor, it is important to
determine the system response to a change in concentration. This response of
concentration versus time is an indication of the ideality of the system.

OBJECTIVES

1. To determine the effect of step changes and pulse input to the concentration.
2. To determine the effect residence time on the response curve.

THEORY

General Mole Balance Equation

Assumptions

1) Steady state therefore

2) Well mixed therefore rA is the same throughout the reactor

Rearranging the generation

 In terms of conversion

Reactors in Series

Given -rA as a function of conversion, , -rA = f(X), one can also design any
sequence of reactors in series provided there are no side streams by defining the
overall conversion at any point.

Mole Balance on Reactor 1

Mole Balance on Reactor 2

Given -rA = f(X) the Levenspiel Plot can be used to find the reactor volume

For a PFR between two CSTRs

Effect of Step Change in Input Concentration to the Concentration of Solute in
Stirred Tank Reactors in Series.

When a step change of solute concentration is introduced at the feed of tank 1,

the tank in series will experience a transient behavior as a Figure 7 below. The
response will be dependent on the residence time of each reactor in series.

Concentration Concentration

----------------------------------
Reactor 1

Reactor 2

Reactor 3

Time Time

Figure 8a. Step change input Figure 8b . Transient response of

tank in series to the step input.

Effect of Pulse in Input Concentration to the Concentration of Solute in Stirred

Tank in Series.
 When a pulse input of solute concentration is introduced at the feed of tank 1, the
transient behavior will be different than the step change input due to the
diminishing concentration from the input after pulsing as described in Figure 8.
Concentration

Concentration
Reactor 1

Reactor 2
Reactor 3

Time Time

Figure 8a: Pulse input Figure 8b: Transient response of

tank in series to the pulse input.

PROCEDURES

Experiment 1: The Effect of Step Change Input

In this experiment a step-change input would be introduced and the progression of the
tracer will be monitored via the conductivity measurements in all the three reactors.
• Tank 1 and tank 2 was filled up with 20L feeds deionised water.
• 300g of Sodium Chloride was dissolved in tank 1until the salts dissolve entirely
and the solution is homogenous.
• Three way valve (V3) was set to position 2 so that deionised water from tank 2
will flow into reactor 1.
• Pump 2 was switched on to fill up all three reactors with deionised water.
• The flow rate (Fl1) was set to 150 ml/min by adjusting the needles valve (V4). Do
 not use too high flow rate to avoid the over flow and make sure no air bubbles
trapped in the piping. The stirrers 1, 2 and 3 were switched on.
• The deionised water was continued pumped for about 10 minute until the
conductivity readings for all three reactors were stable at low values.
• The values of conductivity were recorded at t0.
• The pump 2 was switched off after 5 minutes. The valve (V3) was switched to
position 1 and the pump 1 was switched on. The timer was started.
• The conductivity values for each reactor were recorded every three minutes.
• Record the conductivity values were continued until reading for reactor 3 closed
to reactor 1.
• Pump 2 was switched off and the valve (V4) was closed.
• All liquids in reactors were drained by opening valves V5 and V6.

Experiment 2: The Effect of Pulse Input

In this experiment a pulse input would be introduced and the progression of the tracer
will be monitored via the conductivity measurements in all the three reactors.
• Tank 1 and tank 2 was filled up with 20L feeds deionised water.
• 300g of Sodium Chloride was dissolved in tank 1until the salts dissolve entirely
and the solution is homogenous.
• Three way valve (V3) was set to position 2 so that deionised water from tank 2
will flow into reactor 1.
• Pump 2 was switched on to fill up all three reactors with deionised water.
• The flow rate (Fl1) was set to 150 ml/min by adjusting the needles valve (V4). Do
not use too high flow rate to avoid the over flow and make sure no air bubbles
trapped in the piping. The stirrers 1, 2 and 3 were switched on.
• The deionised water was continued pumped for about 10 minute until the
conductivity readings for all three reactors were stable at low values.
• The values of conductivity were recorded at t0.
 • The pump 2 was switched off after 5 minutes. The valve (V3) was switched to
position 1 and the pump 1 was switched on. The timer was started.
• Let the pump 1 to operate for 5 minute, and then switched off pump 1. Switched
the three ways valve (V3) back to position 2. The pump 2 was switched on.
• The conductivity values for each reactor were recorded every three minutes.
• Record the conductivity values were continued until reading for reactor 3 closed
to reactor 1.
• Pump 2 was switched off and the valve (V4) was closed.
• All liquids in reactors were drained by opening valves V5 and V6.

APPARATUS

1. Distillation water
2. Sodium Chloride
3. Continuous reactor in series
4. Stirrer system
5. Feed tanks
6. Waste tank
7. Dead time coil
8. Computerize system
9. Stop watch

CONTINUOUSLY STIRRED TANK REACTOR (CSTR)

SAMPLE OF CALCULATION

Vi = FA0 (XA,i - X A,i-1) / (-rA)i

Where Vi = volume of reactor i
F A,i = molal flow rate of A into the first reactor
XA,i = fractional conversion of A in the reactor i
XA,i-1 = fractional conversion of A in the reactor i-1
For first order reaction, -rA = k CA,I = kCA0 (1 – XA,i)
v = volumetric flow rate of A = 150mil/min = 0.15 liter/min
For the first reactor: (V = 20 lit)
(-rA)1 = (kCA)1 = kCA,1 = k CA0 (1 – XA,1)
CA0 = FA0 / v
i.e., FA0 = vCA0
XA,i-1 = XA,0 = 0

Therefore,
Tank 1
Vi = FA0 (XA,i – XA,i-1) / (-rA)i
20 = 0.15 (XA,1 – 0) / (0.158 x (1 – XA,1))
XA,1 = 0.95

Tank 2
Vi = FA0 (XA,i – XA,i-1) / (-rA)i
20 = 0.15 (XA,1 – 0.95) / (0.158 x (1 – XA,1))
XA,1 = 0.997

Tank 3
Vi = FA0 (XA,i – XA,i-1) / (-rA)i
20 = 0.15 (XA,1 – 0.997) / (0.158 x (1 – XA,1))
XA,1 = 0.998
Discussion

In this experiment our objective is to determine the effect of step change and
pulse input to the concentration in a continues stirred tank reactor in series. For that we
have 2 experiment 1st the step change and 2nd is the pulse input.
We take the reading of the conductivity for the 3 different tanks for every 3
minutes and plotted graph conductivity versus time. For the 1st experiment the flow rate
was 150 ml/min and we take 28 readings. We can see the effect of the step change to the
concentration from the graph. Step change is a sudden change in a process variable. For
this experiment our variable that been change is the input. Reactor feedstock is suddenly
switched from one supply to another, causing sudden changes in feed concentration,
flow, etc.
As we know the concentration can be calculated using electrical conductivity
measurements and calibration supplied. The concentration is directly proportional to the
conductivity.
The affect of the step change to the concentration for the 3 reactors are the same.
When the step change of solute concentration was introduced at the feed of tank 1, the
tank will experience a transient behavior as shown in the result. The concentration of in
the reactor will increase in a period of time until it has reached a constant concentration.
For every reactor it has its own concentration. Reactor 1 has the highest concentration
following tank 2 and 3. The concentration if increasing because of the feed rate that been
opened was the tank 1 that contain the dissolve chloride.
For the 2nd experiment the procedure is the same as experiment 1 except we
change the pump from 1 to 2 and the flow rate was 200mil/min. For this experiment we
want to see the effect of the pulse input. When we have plotted the graph we get a
different result from the step change. The pulse input caused the concentration change
drastically for every tank. For tank 1 the concentration decreased rapidly until it reaches
a constant value. For tank 2 the concentrations 1st increase in a period of time then start
decreasing until it reaches a constant value. For tank 3 the concentrations also increase
and decrease but not rapidly. There are only a small different for every readings.
 The decreasing in the concentration happen because the feed was from tank 2 that
contain only dissolve water without any sodium chloride.

Conclusions
From the experiment result it shows that a step change in input and a pulse in
input have its own effect to the concentration. Each of this experiment has its own
transient behavior. We compare the 1st graph and the 2nd graph.
For the 1st graph the change of the concentration for the 3 tank is almost the same.
For the 2nd graph every tank has its own change of concentration. From both experiment
we can conclude that change in input and pulse input has an effect to the concentration.
For the step change it will increase the concentration until it reaches a constant value and
for pulse input it will first increase then decrease until it reaches a constant value. The
feed of the systems effect the concentration in the reactor, if the feed contain a
concentration then the concentration in the tank will increase and if the feed only contain
deionised water then the concentration will decrease.
Every reactor has its own concentration, because of that we conclude that the
residence time for each reactor is different. The value of the residence time depends on
what happens in the reactor.
Recommendations
After we have finished this experiment, we find that are several factors in this
experiment that can be fixed to make sure that the experiment runs better. This is some of
my recommendation for this experiment:
• When we are doing the experiment the program that used to record the data was
not function. This cause us a high error in reading the data. My recommendation
is to make sure better maintainers of the apparatus.
• The instruction in the lab manual for number 1,2 and 3 for both experiment is not
clear and after we doing the experiment it seems that we did not follow the
procedures 1,2 and 3. We just jump to step number 4, it cause us a waste of time
and confusion. My recommendation is to make sure that the procedure is exactly
the same as what we do in the experiment.

Reference
• Levenspiel, O, Chemical Reaction Engineering, John Wiley, 1972
• Robert H.Perry, Don W.Green, Perry’s Chemical Engineers’ Handbook,

McGraw Hill,1998.

• Smith,J.M, Chemical Engineering Kinetics, McGraw Hill, 1981.

 Appendics

C1 C2
C3

Figure 5

Type of Reactor Characteristics

Continuously Stirred Run at steady state with continuous flow of reactants and
Tank Reactor (CSTR) products; the feed assumes a uniform composition
throughout the reactor, exit stream has the same composition
as in the tank

Kinds of Usage Advantages Disadvantages

Phases
Present

1. Liquid phase 1. When agitation is 1. Continuous operation 1. Lowest conversion

required per unit volume
2. Gas-liquid 2. Good temperature
rxns 2. Series control 2. By-passing and
configurations for channeling possible
3. Solid-liquid different 3. Easily adapts to two with poor agitation
rxns concentration phase runs
streams
4. Good control

5. Simplicity of
construction

6 Low operating (labor)

cost