EXP 3 RTD in Packed Bed

RTD IN PACKED BED
EXPERIMENT 10: PACKED BED REACTOR
1.0 INTRODUCTION
In the majority of industrial chemical processes, a reactor is the key item of equipment in which raw
materials undergo a chemical change to form desired products. The design and operation of
chemical reactors is thus crucial to the whole success of the industrial operation. Reactors can take
a widely varying form, depending on the nature of the feed materials and the products.
Understanding non-steady behaviour of process equipment is necessary for the design and
operation of automatic control systems. One particular type of process equipment is the tubular
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.
The RTD in Packed Bed has been designed for students experiment on residence time distribution
(RTD) in a tubular reactor. The unit consists of mainly a vertical glass column packed with glass
Raschig rings. Sump tanks and circulation pumps are provided as well as instruments to measure
concentration of the tracer passing through the column. Students may select either step change
input or impulse input to the reactor and will continuously monitor the responses in the reactor at a
suitable interval.
Objective:
The main objective of this laboratory work is to determine the effect of liquid (L) and gas (G) feed
rates on the mean residence time and degree (intensity) of liquid-phase axial dispersion.
2.0 SUMMARY OF THEORY
The residence-time distribution (RTD) of a reactor is a characteristic of the mixing that occurs in the
chemical reactor. There is no axial mixing in a plug-flow reactor (PFR), and this omission is
reflected in RTD which is exhibited by this class of reactors. The CSTR (constant stirred type
reactor) is thoroughly mixed and possesses a far different kind of RTD than the plug-flow reactor.
The RTD exhibited by a given reactor yields distinctive clues to the type of mixing occurring within it
and is one of the most informative characterizations of the reactor.
The RTD is determined experimentally by injection an inert chemical, molecule, or atom, called a
tracer, into the reactor at some time t = 0 and then measuring the tracer concentration, C, in the
effluent stream as a function of time. In addition to being a nonreactive species that is easily
detectable, the tracer should have physical properties similar to those of the reacting mixture and
be completely soluble in the mixture. It is also should not adsorb on the walls or other surfaces in
the reactor. The latter requirements are needed so that the tracers behavior will honestly reflect
that of the material flowing through reactor.
The two most used methods of injection are pulse input and step input.
In a pulse input, an amount of tracer N0 suddenly injected in one shot into the feedstream entering
the reactor in as short a time as possible. The outlet concentration is then measured as a function
of time. Typical concentration-time curves at the inlet and outlet of an arbitrary reactor are shown in
Figure 1. The effluent concentration-time curve is referred to as the C curve in RTD analysis. We
Updated January 2013 by Asnizam Helmy 1

RTD IN PACKED BED
shall analyze the injection of a tracer pulse for a single-input and single-output system in which only
flow (i.e., no dispersion) carries the tracer material across system boundaries. First, we choose an
increment of time t sufficiently small that the concentration of tracer, C(t), exiting between time t
and t + t is essentially constant. The amount of tracer material, AN, leaving the reactor between
time t and t + t is then
N C (t )v t (1)
where v is the effluent volumetric flow rate. In other words, N is the amount of material that has
spent time between t and t + t in the reactor. If we now divide by the total amount of material that
was injected into reactor, N0, we obtain
N vC (t )
t (2)
N0 N0
which represents the fraction of material that has a residence time in the reactor between time t and
t+ t.
For pulse injection we define

vC (t )
E (t ) (3)
N0
so that
N
E (t ) t (4)
N0
The quantity E(t) is called the residencetime distribution function. It is the function that describes in
a quantitative manner how much time different fluid elements have spent in the reactor.

RTD IN PACKED BED
Figure 2 Concentration-time curves in RTD analysis.
If N0 is not known directly, it can be obtained from the outlet concentration measurements by
summing up all the amounts of materials, N, between time equal to zero and infinity. Writing
Eq.(1) in differential form yields
dN vC(t )dt (5)

and then integrating, we obtain
N0 vC(t )dt (6)

0
the volumetric flow rate is usually constant, so we can define E(t) as

RTD IN PACKED BED
C (t )
E (t ) (7)
C (t )dt
0
The integral in the denominator is the area under the C curve.
An alternative way of interpreting the residence-time function is in its integral form:
Fraction of material leaving the

t2
reactor
that has resided in the reactor = E (t )dt (8)
t1
for times between t1 and t2
We know that the fraction of all the material that has resided for a time t in the reactor between t = 0
and t = is 1; therefore,
E (t )dt 1 (9)
0
Lets consider the example of constructing the C(t) and E(t) curves.
Given: a sample of the tracer hytane at 320 K was injected as a pulse to a reactor and the effluent
concentration measured as a function of time, resulting in the following data:
Table 1.
t (min.) 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 12 14
C (g/m3) 0 1 5 8 10 8 6 4 3.0 2.2 1.5 0.6 0
Processing original data by cubic spline interpolation, the C(t) curve shown in Figure 3 is obtained.
(Here MathCAD package [3] has been used for numerical calculations; alternatively it can be done
by any available software).
10
8
C(t) (g/m3)
0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14
t (min.)
Figure 3. Points original data on concentration, line C(t) spline.
To obtain the E(t) curve, we just divide C(t) by the integral

RTD IN PACKED BED
14
C (t )dt C (t )dt 50.55 (10)
0 0
(The integral (10) also can be evaluated directly from the Table 1 by a pencil and paper calculation
using Simsons rule [4]).
C (t ) C (t )
Calculations of E (t ) give the following results:
50.55
C (t )dt
0
Table 2.
t (min.) 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 12 14
C (g/m ) 0 1
3
5 8 10 8 6 4 3.0 2.2 1.5 0.6 0
E(t)(min
-1) 0 0.02 0.099 0.158 0.198 0.158 0.119 0.079 0.059 0.044 0.03 0.012 0
The E(t) curve is plotted in the Figure 4.
0.2
0.16
E(t) (1/min)
0.12
0.08
0.04
0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14
t (min.)
Figure 4. RTD curve calculated from experimental data (Table 1).
The principal potential difficulties with the pulse technique lie in the problem connected with
obtaining a reasonable pulse at a reactors entrance. The injection must take place over a period
which is very short compared with residence times in various segments of the reactor or reactor
system, and there must be a negligible amount of dispersion between the point of injection and the
entrance to the reactor system. If these conditions can be fulfilled, this technique represents a
simple and direct way of obtaining the RTD.
There are problems when the concentration-time curve has a long tail because the analysis can be
subject to large inaccuracies. This problem principally affects the denominator of the right-hand
side of Eq. (7). (i.e. the integration of the C(t) curve). It is desirable to extrapolate the tail and
analytically continue the calculation. The tail of the curve may sometimes be approximated as an
exponential decay. The inaccuracies introduced by this assumption are very likely to be much less
than those resulting from either truncation or numerical imprecision in this region.
As a more general relationship between a time varying tracer injection and the corresponding
concentration in the effluent we state without development that the output concentration from a

RTD IN PACKED BED
vessel is related to the input concentration from a vessel is related to the input concentration by the
convolution integral (a development can be found in [2]):
t
Cout (t ) Cin (t t ) E (t )dt (11)
0
The inlet concentration of tracer most often takes place the form of either perfect pulse input (Dirac
delta function), imperfect pulse injection (see Figure 2), or a step input.
Let us analyze a step input in the tracer concentration for a system with a constant volumetric flow
rate. Assume a constant rate of tracer addition to a feed that is initiated at time t = 0. Before this
time no tracer was added to the feed. Stated symbolically, we have
0 t 0
C0 (t ) (12)
C0 (const ) t 0
The concentration of tracer in the feed to the reactor is kept at this level until the concentration in
the effluent is indistinguishable from that in the feed; the test may then be discontinued. A typical
outlet concentration curve for this type of input is shown in Figure 2. Because the inlet
concentration is a constant with time, C0, we can take it outside the integral (11) sign, that is,
t
Cout C0 E (t )dt (13)
0
Dividing by C0 yields
t
Cout
E (t )dt (14)
C0 step 0
We differentiate this expression to obtain the RTD function E(t):

d C (t )
E (t ) (15)
dt C0 step
the positive step is usually easier to carry out experimentally than the pulse test, and it has the
additional advantage that the total amount of tracer in the feed over the period of the test does not
have to be known as it does in the pulse test. One possible drawback in this technique is that it is
sometimes difficult to maintain a constant tracer concentration in the feed. Obtained the RTD from
this test also involves differentiation of data and present an additional and probably more serious
drawback to the technique, because differentiation of data can, on occasion, lead to large errors.
(The relevant available mathematical software, MathCAD for example [3], is recommended to
execute the procedure of numerical differentiation of experimental data). A third problem lies with
the large amount of tracer required for this test. If the tracer is very expensive, a pulse test is almost
always used to minimize the cost.
Sometimes E(t) is called the exit-age distribution function. If we regard the age of an atom as the
time it has resided in the reaction environment, the E(t) concerns the age distributuin of the effluent
stream. It is the most used of the distribution functionsconnected with reactor analysis because it
characterizes the lengths of time various atoms spend at reaction conditions.

RTD IN PACKED BED
Figure 5 illustrates typical RTDs resulting from different reactor situations. Figure 5 (a) and (b)
correspond to nearly ideal PFRs and CSTRs respectively. In Figure 5 (c) one observes that a
principal peak occurs at a time smaller than the space time V v (i.e., early exit of fluid) and
also that fluid exits at a time greater than space-time . This curve is representative of the RTD for a
packed-bed reactor with channeling and dead zones. One scenario by which this situation might
occur is shown in Figure 5 (d). Figure 5 (e) shows the RTD for the CSTR in Figure 5 (f), which has
dead zones and bypassing. The dead zone serves to reduce the effective reactor volume indicating
that the active reactor volume is smaller than expected.
The fraction of the exit stream that has resided in the reactor for a period of time shorter than a
given value t is equal to the sum over all times less than t of E(t)t , or expressed continuously,
t fraction of effluent
E (t )dt which has been in reactor F (t ) (16)
0 for less than time t

RTD IN PACKED BED
Figure5. (a) RTD for near plug-flow reactor; (b) RTD for near perfectly mixed CSTR; (c) RTD for packed-bed reactor
with dead zones and channeling; (e) tank reactor with short-circuiting flow (bypass); (f) CSTR with dead zone.
Analogously, we have
t fraction of effluent
E (t )dt which has been in reactor 1 F (t ) (17)
t for longer than time t
Because t appears in the integration limits of these two expressions, Eq. (16) and (17) are both
functions of time. Equation (17) defines a cumulative distribution function F(t). We can calculate F(t)
at various times t from the area under the curve of an E(t) versus t plot. The typical shape of the
F(t) curve is shown for a tracer response to a step input in Figure 6.

RTD IN PACKED BED
Figure 6. Cumulative distribution curve, F(t). Here: 80% [F(t)] of the molecules spend 40 min. or less in the reactor,
and 20% of the molecules [1 F(t)] spend longer than 40 min. in the reactor.
The F curve is another function that has been defined as the normalized response to a particular
input. Alternatively, Eq.(16) has been used as a definition of F(t), and it has been stated that as a
result it can be obtained as the response to a positive-step tracer test. Sometimes the F curve is
used in the same manner as the RTD in the modeling of chemical reactors.
A parameter frequently used in analysis of ideal reactors is the space-time or average residence
time , which is defined as being equal to V/v. It can be shown [1] that no matter what RTD exists
for a particular reactor, ideal or non-ideal, this nominal holding time, , is equal to the mean
residence time, tm.
As is the case with other variables described by distribution functions, the mean value of the
variable is equal to the first moment of the RTD function, E(t). Thus the mean residence time is
tE (t )dt tC (t )dt
t i Ci t i
tm 0
tE (t )dt 0
(18)
0
Ci t i
E (t )dt C (t )dt
0 0
It is very common to compare RTDs by using their moments instead of trying to compare their
entire distributions. For this purpose, three moments are normally used. The first is the mean
residence time. The second moment commonly used is taken about the mean and is called the
variance, or square of the standard deviation. It is defined by
2
(t t m ) 2 E (t )dt (19)
0

RTD IN PACKED BED
alternatively
(t t m ) 2 C (t )dt
(ti t m ) 2 Ci t i
2 0
(20)
Ci t i
C (t )dt
0
The magnitude of this moment is an indication of the spread of the distribution; the greater the
value of this moment, the greater a distributions spread.
The third moment is also taken about the mean and is related to the skewness. The skewness is
defined by
1
s3 3/ 2
(t t m ) 3 E (t )dt (21)
0
The magnitude of this moment measures the extent that a distribution is skewed in one direction or
another in reference to the mean.
Rigorously, for complete description of a distribution, all moments must be determined. Practically,
these three (tm, 2, s3) are usually sufficient for a reasonable characterization of an RTD.
Calculations of mean residence time and variance for experimental data from above example
(Table 1) give the following:
14 14
tm tE (t )dt 5.13 min . , 2
(t t m ) 2 E (t )dt 6.06 min 2 , 2.46 min .
0 0
(MathCAD package has been used for numerical integration; E(t) being expressed by cubic spline
interpolation).
Frequently, a normalized RTD E() is used instead of E(t). Here time is measured in terms of mean
residence time =t/, then
E( ) E(t ) (22)
Correspondently, the dispersion coefficient 2
is introduced as
2
2
2
(23)
Models are useful for representing flow in real vessel, for scale up, and for diagnosing poor flow.
There are different kinds of models depending on whether flow is close to plug, mixed, or
somewhere in between.
The chart from Figure 7 points out which model should be used to represent a given setup if it is
uncertain.

RTD IN PACKED BED
Figure 7 Map showing which flow models should be used in any situation.
Figure 8. The spreading of tracer according to the dispersion model.

RTD IN PACKED BED
Suppose an ideal pulse of tracer is introduced into the fluid entering a reactor. The pulse spreads
as it passes through the vessel, and to characterize the spreading according to dispersion model
Figure 8), we assume a diffusion-like process superimposed on plug flow. We call this dispersion or
longitudinal dispersion to distinguish it from molecular diffusion. The dispersion coefficient D (m2/s)
represent this spreading process. Thus
large D means rapid spreading of the tracer curve

small D means slow spreading
D = 0 means no spreading, hence plug flow
D
Also is the dimensionless group characterizing the spread in the whole vessel. Levenspiel
uL
D D
[2} suggested calling as a vessel dispersion number and as an intensity (degree) of
uL ud
axial dispersion.
uL
(Note it is not recommended to call the reciprocal of this group as the Peclet number defined
D
uL
as . The difference rests in the use of D in place of D (molecular diffusion coefficient) hence,
D
these group have completely different meanings.)
In dimensionless form where z = (ut + x )/L and = t/ = tu/L, the basic differential equation
representing this dispersion model is
2
C D C C
2
(24)
uL z z
where the vessel dispersion number is the parameter that measures the extent of axial dispersion.
Thus
D
0 negligible dispersion, hence plug flow
uL
D
large dispersion, hence mixed flow
uL
The dispersion model usually represents quite satisfactory flow that deviates not too greatly from
plug flow, thus real packed bed and tubes.
Case D/uL < 0.01.
When an idealized pulse is imposed fitting the dispersion model for small extents of dispersion,
D/uL < 0.01, results in the following family of equations:
1 (1 )2
E E exp (25)
4 (D / uL) 4(D / uL)
u3 ( L ut ) 2
E exp (26)
4 DL 4DL / u
V L
tm (27)
v u

RTD IN PACKED BED
2
D DL
2
2
2 or 2
2 (28)
uL U3
Case D/uL > 0.01, closed vessel/open vessel.
For the large deviations from plug flow, D/uL > 0.01, here the pulse response is broad and it
passes the measurement point slowly enough that it changes shape it spreads as it being
measured. This gives a nonsymmetrical E curve.
An additional complication enters the picture for large D/uL : what happens right at the entrance
and exit of the vessel strongly affects the shape of the tracer curve as well as the relationship
between the parameters of the curve and D/uL .
Let us consider two types of boundary conditions: either the flow is undisturbed as it passes the
entrance and exit boundaries (we call it open boundary conditions), or you have plug flow outside
the vessel up to the boundaries we call this the closed boundary conditions). In all cases D/uL is
evaluated from the parameters of the trace curves; however each curve has its own mathematics.
Closed vessel. For the closed vessel situation an analytical expression for the E curve is not
available. However the curve can be constructed by numerical methods, or its mean and variance
can be evaluated exactly as
2 2
V D D
tm , 2
2
2 2 1 e uL / D
(29)
v uL uL
Open vessel (00). This represents a convenient and commonly used experimental device, a section
of long pipe, a fixed-bed tubular reactor, etc. It also happens to be the only physical situation
(besides small D/uL ) where the analytical expression for the E curve is not too complex:
1 (1 )2
E , 00 exp (30)
4 (D / uL) 4 (D / uL)
u ( L ut ) 2
E00 exp (31)
4 Dt 4Dt
V D
t m,00 1 2 (32)
v uL
2 2
D D
2 00
2
2 8 (33)
t m uL uL

RTD IN PACKED BED
3.0 METHODOLOGY
The unit consists of the followings:
a) Reactor
A column made of borosilicate glass packed with 8 x 8mm Raschig rings. Column
OD: 100 mm; ID: 82 mm; Height: 1,500 mm. Top and bottom caps made of
stainless steel fitted with appropriate inlet and outlet ports. A differential pressure
tapping is also provided on both caps.
b) Feed Tank
20-L cylindrical tank made of stainless steel comes with a circulation pump. The
tank is fitted with a level switch to protect the pump from dry run.
c) Dosing Tank
20-L cylindrical tank made of stainless steels a metering pump.
d) Waste Tank
50-L rectangular tank made of stainless steel.
e) Instrumentations
Air Flowmeters:
Range : 0 to 50 LPM; 0 to 200 LPM
Output : 0 to 5 VDC
Display : LCD digital display
Liquid Flowmeter:
Range : 0 to 5 LPM
Output : 0 to 5 VDC
Display : LCD digital display
Conductivity Meter:
Sensor Range : 0 to 200 mS/cm
No. of Sensors : 2 (CT1, CT2)
Output : 4 to 20 mA
Display : conductivity controller with digital display for each sensor
mounted on the control panel
g) Data Acquisition System

The Data Acquisition System consists of a personal computer, ADC modules and
instrumentations for measuring the process parameters. A flowmeter with 0 to 5
VDC output signal is supplied for feed flowrate measurement. Conductivity sensors
with controller are provided for monitoring the tracer concentration in each reactor.
All analog signals from the sensors will be converted by the ADC modules into
digital signals before being sent to the personal computer for display and
manipulation.

RTD IN PACKED BED
Figure 1. Process Diagram for RTD Studies in Tubular Reactor (BP 112).

RTD IN PACKED BED
EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES
GENERAL START-UP PROCEDURE
1. Perform a quick inspection to make sure that the equipment is in proper

working condition.
2. Check that all valves are initially closed.
3. Open valve V13 to fill up the feed tank T1 with de-ionized water.
4. Prepare 10 liter of 0.2M NaCl solution in dosing tank T2. Record the
conductivity reading for this solution.
5. Flush the system with de-ionized water until no traces of salt is detected.
6. Switch on the main power on the control panel.
Note: For operations with SOLDAS Data Acquisition System, switch on
the computer and run the Data Acquisitions System (DAS)
software. Refer to DAS operating procedure.
7. Ensure the compressed air supply is on. Set the pressure regulator to
about 2 bar.
8. The equipment is now ready to be run.
OPERATING MODES:
There are two modes of operations:
1. Counter-current mode: The liquid stream is flowing downward from top of

the column while the gas stream is flowing upward from bottom of the
column. The pulse or step input tracer is injected at the top of the column.
2. Co-current mode: Both the liquid and gas streams are flowing upward from
bottom of the column. The pulse or step input tracer is injected at the
bottom of the column.
Note:
Refer to the notes at the end of the experimental procedure for the TASK list.

RTD IN PACKED BED
Experiment A: 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.
a) Counter-current Mode
Procedures:
1. Perform the general start-up procedure.
2. Set the valves appropriately for counter-current mode:
Valves V3, V5 and V10 remain closed.
3. Open valve V1 and switch on pump P1. Fill up the column with de-ionized
water to packing height.
Note: The water level must be maintained throughout the experiment.
Use valve V4 to adjust the level if necessary.
4. Adjust valve V1 to obtain a liquid flowrate of 500 ml/min.
5. Open valve V6. Open valve V8 to obtain a gas flow rate of 1.0 L min-1.
6. Observe the conductivity reading of CT1 and let it stabilizes at low value.
7. Switch on dosing pump P2. Open valve V14 and bleed off any air trapped
in the tubing.
8. Close valve V14. Open valve V9 and start timer simultaneously. Record
conductivity reading CT1 at 1 min interval.
9. Continue recording until conductivity reading is constant.
10. Repeat the experiment with gas flow rate of 2.0 L min -1. Ensure that the
system is flushed with de-ionized water until no traces of salt is detected.
11. Stop the experiment and drain out all liquid from the system.
Note:
For operations with SOLDAS Data Acquisition System, refer to the DAS operating
procedure. In step 8, click the START button. Conductivity values will be recorded
automatically and a table will be generated.
b) Co-current Mode
Procedures:
2. Set the valves appropriately for co-current mode:
Valves V2, V4 and V9 remain closed. Open valves V3 and V5.
3. Switch on pump P1. Open and adjust valve V1 to obtain a liquid flowrate
of 500 ml/min.
4. Open valve V6. Open valve V8 to obtain a gas flowrate of 1 Lmin-1.

RTD IN PACKED BED
in the tubing.
9. Repeat the experiment with gas flow rate of 2.0 L min-1. Ensure that the
Note:
Results:
COUNTER-CURRENT MODE CO-CURRENT MODE

Liquid Flowrate: L min-1 Liquid Flowrate: L min-1
Air Flowrate: L min-1 Air Flowrate: L min-1
Time CT1 Time CT2
[min] [ s/cm] [min] [ s/cm]
0 0
1 1
2 2
3 3
4 4
. .
. .

RTD IN PACKED BED
Experiment B: 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.
a) Counter-current Mode
Procedures:
2. Set the valves appropriately for counter-current mode:
Valves V3, V5 and V10 remain closed.
3. Open valve V1 and switch on pump P1. Fill up the column with de-ionized
water to packing height.
Note: The water level must be maintained throughout the experiment.
Use valve V4 to adjust the level if necessary.
4. Adjust valve V1 to obtain a liquid flowrate of 500 ml/min.
5. Open valve V6. Open valve V8 to obtain a gas flowrate of 1.0 L min-1.
in the tubing.
9. Let dosing pump P2 run for 2 minutes. Close valve V9 and stop pump P2.
11. Repeat the experiment with gas flow rate of 2.0 L min-1. Ensure that the
Note:
b) Co-current Mode
Procedures:
2. Set the valves appropriately for co-current mode:
Valves V2, V4 and V9 remain closed. Open valves V3 and V5.
3. Switch on pump P1. Open and adjust valve V1 to obtain a liquid flowrate
of 500 ml/min.
4. Open valve V6. Open valve V8 to obtain a gas flowrate of 10

RTD IN PACKED BED
in the tubing.
8. Let dosing pump P2 run for 2 minutes. Close valve V10 and stop pump
P2.
Note:
Results:
COUNTER-CURRENT MODE CO-CURRENT MODE

Liquid Flowrate: L min-1 Liquid Flowrate: L min-1
Air Flowrate: L min-1 Air Flowrate: L min-1
Time CT1 Time CT2
[min] [ s/cm] [min] [ s/cm]
0 0
1 1
2 2
3 3
4 4
. .
. .
Task:
1. For all experiment above, carry out the following task:
a. Obtain the E(t) curve
b. Determine the mean residence time, tm, of the system.
c. Determine the variance, 2, and the skewness, s3, of the system.
d. Does your system has negligible dispersion or large dispersion? (Hint: Give
your comment based on the value of the dimensionless group, D/uL)

RTD IN PACKED BED
4. REFERENCES
1.0 Levenspiel, O., Chemical Reaction Engineering, John Wiley, 1972.

2.0 Fogler, H.S., Elements of Chemical Reaction Engineering, 3rd Edition, Prentice Hall
PTR, 1999.
3.0 Smith, J.M., Chemical Engineering Kinetics, McGraw Hill, 1981.
4.0 Astarita, G., Mass Transfer with Chemical Reaction, Elsevier, 1967.
5. MAINTENANCE
1. After each experiment, drain off any liquids from the reactor and make sure that
the reactor and tubings are cleaned properly. Flush the system with de-ionized
water until no traces of salt are detected.
2. Dispose all liquids immediately after each experiment. Do not leave any solution or
waste in the tanks over a long period of time.
3. Wipe off any spillage from the unit immediately.
6. SAFETY PRECAUTIONS
1. Always observe all safety precautions in laboratory.
2. Always wear protective clothing, shoes, helmet and goggles throughout the
laboratory session.
3. Always run the experiment after fully understand the equipment and procedures.
4. Always plug in all cables into appropriate sockets before switching on the main
power on the control panel. Inspect all cables for any damage to avoid electrical
shock. Replace if necessary.
5. Inspect the unit, including tubings and fittings, periodically for leakage and worn
out.

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RTD IN PACKED BED

EXPERIMENT 10: PACKED BED REACTOR

2.0 SUMMARY OF THEORY

Updated January 2013 by Asnizam Helmy 1

For pulse injection we define

Updated January 2013 by Asnizam Helmy 2

Figure 2 Concentration-time curves in RTD analysis.

dN vC(t )dt (5)

N0 vC(t )dt (6)

the volumetric flow rate is usually constant, so we can define E(t) as

Updated January 2013 by Asnizam Helmy 3

Fraction of material leaving the

Figure 3. Points original data on concentration, line C(t) spline.

To obtain the E(t) curve, we just divide C(t) by the integral

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The E(t) curve is plotted in the Figure 4.

Figure 4. RTD curve calculated from experimental data (Table 1).

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We differentiate this expression to obtain the RTD function E(t):

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Figure 8. The spreading of tracer according to the dispersion model.

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large D means rapid spreading of the tracer curve

Case D/uL < 0.01.

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The unit consists of the followings:

g) Data Acquisition System

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GENERAL START-UP PROCEDURE

1. Perform a quick inspection to make sure that the equipment is in proper

There are two modes of operations:

1. Counter-current mode: The liquid stream is flowing downward from top of

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Experiment A: The effect of step change input

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COUNTER-CURRENT MODE CO-CURRENT MODE

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Experiment B: The effect of pulse input.

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COUNTER-CURRENT MODE CO-CURRENT MODE

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1.0 Levenspiel, O., Chemical Reaction Engineering, John Wiley, 1972.

3. Wipe off any spillage from the unit immediately.

1. Always observe all safety precautions in laboratory.

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