WOLFRAM|DEMONSTRATIONS PROJECT

Packed Bed Reactor Design for a Gas Phase Catalytic Reaction

​
catalyst type
rate1
rate2
rate3
rate4
K
A
K
B
K
C
Consider an irreversible gas phase catalytic reaction,
A+B→C+D
, taking place in a packed bed reactor with four different catalysts. The catalyst weight is 2 kg. Reactant inlet concentrations are
C
A0
=
C
B0
=1.0mol/
3
dm
. The molar feed flow rate of species
A
is equal to
F
A0
=1.5mol/min
. The reaction rate constant is
k=10
3
dm
kg.mol.min
. The reaction rate expression for the different catalyst types takes one of the following expressions:
rate
1
=-
kC
A
C
B
1+
K
A
C
A
rate
2
=-
kC
A
C
B
1+
K
A
C
A
+
K
C
C
C
rate
3
=-
kC
A
C
B
2
(1+
K
A
C
A
+
K
B
C
B
)
rate
4
=-
kC
A
C
B
2
(1+
K
A
C
A
+
K
B
C
B
+
K
C
C
C
)
A differential mole balance gives:
dX
dW
=
-
r
A
F
A0
, where
W
is the catalyst weight,
X
is the conversion given by
C
A0
-
C
A
C
A0
, and
r
A
is the user-selected rate expression, which depends on catalyst type.
This Demonstration plots the conversion of species
A
versus catalyst weight for constant pressure operation for the four situations. The user can set the values of the adsorption equilibrium constants
K
A
,
K
B
, and
K
C
, which are expressed in
3
dm
/mol
.