Yield and Selectivity for Series-Reaction Network in a CSTR and a PFR

yield

selectivity

ratio of rate constants

10

Consider a series-reaction network composed of two first-order reactions: A

k

1

→

B

k

2

→

C. It is assumed that B is the desired product, which yields

Y

B/A

and selectivity



S

B/A

, which are plotted versus the conversion for various values of the ratio

K=

k

2

k

1

in this Demonstration. Yield and selectivity are plotted in red for the PFR (plug flow reactor) and in green for the CSTR (continuous stirred-tank reactor). Yield and selectivity will have low values if one operates at high conversions. Thus there is a trade-off between conversion of reactant A and selectivity for component B. For high values of

K

, the selectivity drops sharply with conversion. On the other hand, when

K

is small, there is a large range of conversion values for which the selectivity is still high enough, especially for the PFR reactor. It is clear from the results that a recycling of some unreacted reactants will be necessary.

Details

R. W. Missen, C. A. Mims and B. A. Saville, Introduction to Chemical Reaction Engineering and Kinetics, New York: Wiley, 1999.

Permanent Citation

Housam Binous, Ahmed Bellagi

"Yield and Selectivity for Series-Reaction Network in a CSTR and a PFR"
http://demonstrations.wolfram.com/YieldAndSelectivityForSeriesReactionNetworkInACSTRAndAPFR/
Wolfram Demonstrations Project
Published: March 7, 2011