INTRODUCTION

In chemical engineering, chemical reactors are vessels designed to contain chemical

reactions. The design of a chemical reactor deals with multiple aspects of chemical
engineering. 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 behaviour 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.
Continuous stirred tank reactor (CSTR) are the simplest continuous
reactors that are used in the chemical processes. CSTR are open systems,
where material is free to enter or exit the system, which operate on a steady-state basis,
where the conditions in the reactor don't change with time. Reactants are continuously
introduced into the reactor, while products are continuously removed.
Continuous stirred-tank reactors are most commonly used in industrial processing,
primarily in homogeneous liquid-phase flow reactions, where constant agitation is required.
They may be used by themselves, in series, or in a battery. CSTR are also used in
the pharmaceutical industry as a loop reactor.
Continuous-flow stirred-tank reactors in series are simpler and easier to design for
isothermal operation than are tubular reactors. Reactions with narrow operating temperature
ranges or those requiring close control of reactant concentrations for optimum selectivity
benefit from series arrangements. If severe heat-transfer requirements are imposed, heating or
cooling zones can be incorporated within or external to the CSTR. For example, impellers or
centrally mounted draft tubes circulate liquid upward, then downward through vertical heat-
exchanger tubes. In a similar fashion, reactor contents can be recycled through external heat
exchangers.
The Armfield Stirred Tank Reactors in Series unit is designed to follow the dynamics
of the perfectly mixed multi-stage process. Dynamic behaviour can be studied as can multi-
stage chemical reaction. Bench mounted and self-contained, the unit requires only to be
connected to a single phase electrical supply for operation. A self-contained bench mounted
small scale unit fitted with three continuous stirred reactors in series which are fed from two
5 litre tanks.

APPARATUS AND MATERIALS

APPARATUS MATERIALS
Continuous stirred tank reactor in Deionized water
series
Conductivity meter Sodium chloride solution, NaCl
Stop watch
Dead time coil
Feed tanks
Waste tank
Stirrer system
PROCEDURE
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.

1. Tank 1 and tank 2 was filled up with 20 L feeds deionizer water.

2. 300g of Sodium Chloride was dissolved in tank 1until the salts dissolve entirely and
the solution is homogenous.
3. Three way valve (V3) was set to position 2 so that deionizer water from tank 2 will
flow into reactor 1.
4. Pump 2 was switched on to fill up all three reactors with deionizer water.
5. 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.
6. The deionizer water was continued pumped for about 10 minute until the
conductivity readings for all three reactors were stable at low values.
7. The values of conductivity were recorded at t0.
8. 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.
9. The conductivity values for each reactor were recorded every three minutes.
10. Record the conductivity values were continued until reading for reactor 3 closed to
reactor 1.
11. Pump 2 was switched off and the valve (V4) was closed.
12. All liquids in reactors were drained by opening valves V5 and V6.

http://encyclopedia.che.engin.umich.edu/Pages/Reactors/CSTR/CSTR.html
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