PRESSURE DROP IN PFR/PBR

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 PRESSURE DROP IN PBR

• Analyze the following second order gas phase reaction

that occurs isothermally in a PBR:
A P

• Mole balance:

• Rate law :

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 CONTINUE

• Stoichiometry :

• Isothermal reaction; T = T0,

• Combine:

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 CONTINUE

• Need to find (P/P0) as a function of W (or V if you

have a PFR)
• Pressure Drop in Packed Bed Reactors
Ergun equation

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 CONTINUE

• Variable Density:

• The pressure drop eqn can then be written as

let

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 CONTINUE

• Catalyst weight :

where

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 CONTINUE

• Let

then

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 CONTINUE

• Rearrange:

• We will use this form for multiple reactions:

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 CONTINUE

• For single reaction

• For isothermal reaction

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 CONTINUE
• Recall that

• Notice that

• The two expressions are coupled ordinary differential

equations. We can solve them simultaneously using an
ODE solver such as Polymath. For the special case of
isothermal operation and epsilon = 0, we can obtain an
analytical solution

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 CONTINUE
• For isothermal reaction, T=T0 and if  = 0,

CAUTION: Never use this form if   0

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 CONTINUE
• Substitute in the stoichiometry,

• Rate law

• Design Equation

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 CONTINUE
• You now get a relation between X and W

• You can solve W for a given X or vise versa

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 CONTINUE
• For gas phase
reactions, as the
pressure drop
increases, the
concentration
decreases, resulting
in a decreased rate
of reaction, hence a
lower conversion
when compared to a
reactor without a
pressure drop.

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 1ST ORDER REACTION
• Analyze a first order gas phase reaction that occurs
isothermally in a PBR:
A P

• Mole balance:

• Rate law :  rA '  kCA

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 CONTINUE

• Stoichiometry :

• Isothermal reaction; T = T0,

• Combine: dX kCA0 1  X   P 
  
dW FA0 1  X   P0 

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 CONTINUE
• Since  = 0, solving for y gives

y  1  W 
1/ 2

• Combining with design equation

dX

kCA0
1  X 1  W 1/ 2
dW FA0
 CONTINUE
• Rearrange the equation
dX

kCA0
 (1  X ) FA0  1  W 1/ 2
dW

• Solving the equation gives

ln
1

kCA0
1  x FA0
 2
 3 
1  (1  W ) 
3/ 2 

 EXAMPLE

FA0 = 10 mol/s
X=?
CA0 = 1 mol/dm3
W = 500kg
k = 0.1111 dm3 s-1 kg -1

• What is the conversion of the PBR if there is no

pressure drop?

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 SOLUTION
• Design equation

• Rate law

• Stoichiometry
(1  X )
C A  C A0
• Combine (1  X )

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 SOLUTION
• Integration

X = 0.96

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 WITH P

• If alpha () = 0.00116, what is the new conversion?

What is the final pressure if the entering pressure is 10
atm?

dX kCA0 1  X 
• Design equation  y
dW FA0 1  X 

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 POLYMATH
alpha = 0.00116
Fao = 10
Cao = 1
k = 0.111
d(X) / d(W) = (k*Cao/Fao)*(1-X)*y/(1+X)
W(0) = 0
X(0) = 0
W(f) = 500
d(y) / d(W) =(-1)*alpha*(1+X)/2*y
y(0) = 1
 POLYMATH
1.2

0.8

X
0.6

0.4

0.2

0
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 500
W

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 POLYMATH

At W = 500 kg, X = 0.932, y = 0.607

0.607 = P/Po

P = 0.607 Po

P = 6.07 atm

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 P with X and Tube Length

Catalyst weight :

The correlation between catalyst weight, W and

reactor length, z can be obtained from

dW
 Ac * 
dz

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 P with X and Tube Length

FA0 = 10 mol/s
X=?
CA0 = 1 mol/dm3
Wmax = 500kg
k = 0.1111 dm3 s-1 kg -1
Bulk density = 1.8 g/dm3

• What if the PFR it was 100dm long and had a total volume of
200dm3?
• What if it was 4dm wide and 10dm long?
• What if 4 PFRs 25 dm long were used in parallel instead of one
150dm3 PFR?
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 OPTIMAL PARTICLE SIZE
• For laminar flow

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 OPTIMAL PARTICLE SIZE
• For turbulence flow

 Ac1  D p1  P01 
2 2
 G2 
 2  1     
 
 
 G1   Ac 2  D p 2  P02 

• If Dp2 = 2Dp1, then

1
2 
2
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 OPTIMAL PARTICLE SIZE

Currently the gas phase reaction

A +B  C + D k = 0.016 dm3/kg cat. s

is carried out isothermally at 60C in a packed bed reactor. For an entering

pressure of 20 atm, a pressure drop of 4 atm is realized for 100 kg of catalyst.
What pressure drop would be realized if the particle size is reduced by a
factor of 4 and the catalyst weight charged to 15 kg.

a)The flow is laminar

b)The flow is turbulence
c) If equimolar feed enters at molar flowrate of 10 mol/s, determine the
conversion for each case

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