Grimoire

Batch Reactors

An overview

Published:
This is part of the re­ac­tion en­gi­neer­ing col­lec­tion.

Introduction

Based on the mode of re­ac­tor op­er­a­tion, re­ac­tors may be:

  • Batch
  • Continuous
    • Plug Flow
    • Continuously Stirred

Continuously op­er­at­ing re­ac­tors are also fur­ther sub­di­vided on the ba­sis of their ho­mo­gene­ity.

Characteristics

As enu­mer­ated by Missen et al. (1999)

  • Each batch is a closed sys­tem
  • The to­tal mass of each batch is fixed
  • The vol­ume or den­sity of each batch varies (w.r.t time)
  • The en­ergy of each batch varies (w.r.t time)
  • The re­ac­tion (residence) time \(t\) for all ements of a fluid is the same.
  • The op­er­a­tion of the re­ac­tor is in­her­ently in the un­stead-state (eg. com­po­si­tion w.r.t time)
  • The batch is uni­form due to ef­fi­cient stir­ring (composition, tem­per­a­ture .etc)

References

Missen, R.W., R.W. Missen, C.A. Mims, and B.A. Saville. 1999. Introduction to Chemical Reaction Engineering and Kinetics. v. 1. Wiley. https://​books.google.co.in/​books?id=X79­TAAAA­MAAJ.