TECHNOLOGICAL INSTITUTE OF THE PHILIPPINES

363 P. CASAL ST., QUIAPO, MANILA

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND ARCHITECTURE
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT

EXPERIMENT NO. 4: BATCH REACTOR

SUBMITTED BY:

SUBMITTED TO:

JANUARY 14, 2015

EXPERIMENT NO. 4
BATCH REACTOR
Discussion:
The Batch reactor is the generic term for a type of vessel widely used in the process
industries. In a batch reactor the reactants and the catalyst are placed in the reactor and the
reaction is allowed to proceed for a given time whereupon the mixture of unreacted material
together with the products is withdrawn. Provision for mixing may be required. In an ideal batch
reactor, the concentration and temperature are assumed to be spatially uniform. In practice, the
condition can be approximately realized by vigorous agitation or stirring..All the elements of the
fluid spend the same amount of time in the reactor, and hence have the same residence time.
From the viewpoint of thermodynamics, a batch reactor represents a closed system. The steady
states of the batch reactor correspond to states of reaction equilibria.
Batch reactors are also used when only a small amount of product is desired. For this
reason batch reactors are favored when a process is still in the testing phase, or when the
desired product is expensive. Batch reactors are used in the pharmaceutical industry, which
requires consistent, high quality results. One batch reactor may also be used to make a variety of
products at different times.
A typical batch reactor consists of a tank with an agitator and integral heating/cooling
system. Liquids and solids are usually charged via connections in the top cover of the reactor.
Vapors and gases also discharge through connections in the top. Liquids are usually discharged
out of the bottom.

ADVANTAGES
High conversions can be obtained by leaving reactants in reactor for extended periods of time.
Batch reactor jackets allow the system to change heating or cooling power at constant jacket heat flux.
Versatile, can be used to make many products consecutively.
Good for producing small amounts of products while still in testing phase.
Easy to clean.

Materials:

Reactor
pH meter
0.05 M Sodium Hydroxide
0.05 M Ethyl Acetate

Procedure:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.

Prepare equimolar amount of sodium hydroxide and ethyl acetate.

Set the temperature to 30C.
Pour the reactants into the reactor.
Stir and after 5 minutes, obtain a sample at least 10 mL or enough to determine the
concentration with respect to time.
Compute for the concentration of sodium hydroxide at t = 5 min.
Compute the conversion of the reactant, NaOH per sampling time.
Assume the order and plot the concentration versus time relation.
If straight line I plot, determine the rate constant from the slope. Otherwise, make
another assumption of the order.
Express the batch reactor design equation in terms of conversion and plot the
conversion versus time.

Experminental Set-Up:

Data and Results:

Time, min
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
55

pH, Cao
11.07
11.43
11.36
11.29
11.21
11.13
11.01
11.03
10.99
10.96
10.94

pH
11.07
11.43
11.36
11.29
11.21
11.13
11.01
11.03
10.99
10.96
10.94

Cao
8.51x10-12
3.72x10-12
4.37x10-12
5.13x10-12
6.17x10-12
7.41x10-12
8.51x10-12
9.33x10-11
1.02x10-11
1.09x10-11
1.15x10-11

[NaOH], mol/L
8.51x10-12
3.72x10-12
4.37x10-12
5.13x10-12
6.17x10-12
7.41x10-12
8.51x10-12
9.33x10-11
1.02x10-11
1.09x10-11
1.15x10-11

pH, Ca
11.43
11.36
11.29
11.21
11.13
11.01
11.03
10.99
10.96
10.94
10.89

Conversion, Xa
0.562867215
-0.174731183
-0.173913043
-0.202729045
-0.200972447
-0.148448043
-0.096357227
-0.093247588
-0.068627451
-0.055045872
-0.12173913

Ca
3.72x10-12
4.37x10-12
5.13x10-12
6.17x10-12
7.41x10-12
8.51x10-12
9.33x10-12
1.02x10-11
1.09x10-11
1.15x10-11
1.29x10-11

Analysis and Interpretation of Data

Determining the order of reaction and the reaction constant of sodium hydroxide is the
main objective of this experiment. The pH of the samples were determined using pH meter and
the fromula used for calculating the concentration of sodium hydroxide was,
C A =antilog [pH ]
the calculated C A will then serve as the initial concentration for the next sample.
Assuming that the reaction is in first order and using the data gathered,

-19.5
0

10

20

30

40

50

60

-20

-20.5
Concentration

f(x) = 0.02x - 21.74

R = 0.97

-21

-21.5

-22
Time

Reaction Order: 1st

Reaction Rate Constant: 0.0247
Conclusions and Recommendations:
In conclusion, the concentration of the sample was directly proportional to the time. First
order reactions depends on the concentration of only one reaction. In this experiment, sodium
hydroxide was the reactant with the first order; the other reactant was in zero order.
It is recommended that the instructions to use the reactor be clearly stated as it causes
misunderstanding which in turn causes error in handling the reactor. It is also recommended that
the reactor be thouroughlt cleaned as dusts and rusts can affect the results obtained.