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Tubular reactor Equipment
1.1INTRODUCTION
1.1.2 BACKGROUND STUDY
1.1.2.1 TUBULAR REACTOR
A tubular reactor is a vessel through which flow is continuous, usually at steady state, and
configured so that conversion of the chemicals and other dependent variables are functions
of position within the reactor rather than of time. In the ideal tubular reactor, the fluids
flow as if they were solid plugs or pistons, and reaction time is the same for all flowing
material at any given tube cross section. Tubular reactors resemble batch reactors in
providing initially high driving forces, which diminish as the reactions progress down the
tubes. Flow in tubular reactors can be laminar, as with viscous fluids in smalldiameter
tubes, and greatly deviate from ideal plugflow behavior, or turbulent, as with gases.
Turbulent flow generally is preferred to laminar flow, because mixing and heat transfer are
improved. For slow reactions and especially in small laboratory and pilotplant reactors,
establishing turbulent flow can result in inconveniently long reactors or may require
unacceptably high feed rates.
Tubular reactors are commonly used for largescale continuous processes where fluids flow.
through the reactor at high velocities. Products are formed during the flow, and they are incapable
to diffuse back due to the high velocity and negligible backward mixing. Thus, the existence of side
reactions is only minor and high conversion of product can be achieved when optimizing the reactor
parameters carefully.
In a tubular reactor, fluids (gases and/or liquids) flow through it at high velocities. As the
reactants flow, for example along a heated pipe, they are converted to products (Figure 4).
At these high velocities, the products are unable to diffuse back and there is little or no
back mixing. The conditions are referred to as plug flow. This reduces the occurrence of
side reactions and increases the yield of the desired product.
With a constant flow rate, the conditions at any one point remain constant with time and
changes in time of the reaction are measured in terms of the position along the length of
the tube. The reaction rate is faster at the pipe inlet because the concentration of reactants
is at its highest and the reaction rate reduces as the reactants flow through the pipe due to
the decrease in concentration of the reactant.
Tubular reactors cover a large class of (bi o)chemical systems as encountered in industry
and reallife applications. They are basically characterized by the nonhomogeneity of the
reacting medium with in a confined volume (the reactor), and their dynamics are described
by partial differential equations. With that respect, they belong to the class of dynamical
systems known as infinite dimensional systems. There are basically two classes of tubular
reactors, one for which the hydrodynamics are purely convective (they are known as "plug
flow" reactors), the other described convectivediffusive hydrodynamic. Plug flow reactors
are known in chemical reactor design as the best basic reactor configuration in the sense
that it allows to maximize the conversion. Convectivediffusive reactors represent an
intermediate class of reactors between the plug flow reactor (when the diffusion
coefficient(s) is(are) to zero) and the continuous stirred tank reactor (CSTR) (when the
diffusion coefficient(s) tend(s) to infinity).
Plug flow reactors play an important role in many production facilities involving chemical
transformation of substances. Plug flow reactors usually operate in adiabatic or non
isothermal conditions.
The plug flow reactor (PFR) process is used to estimate the key unit operation variables to
reach a specified output. In a PFR, the fluid passes through in a coherent manner, so that
the residence time, τ, is the same for all fluid elements. Consequently, from the standpoint
of the kinetic parameters of a chemical reaction under isothermal conditions, plugflow
reactors are more efficient than stirred tank reactors, especially when both volumes are
equalthe advantages of PFR reactor is Plug flow reactors have a high volumetric unit
conversion and run for long periods of time without maintenance. The mathematical model
works well for many fluids: liquids, gases, and slurries. In a tubular reactor, the feed enters
at one end of a cylindrical tube and the product stream leaves at the other end.The long
tube and the lack of provision for stirring prevent complete mixing of the fluid in the tube.
Hence the properties of the flowing stream will vary from one point to another, namely in
both radial and axial directions also In the ideal tubular reactor, which is called the “plug
flow” reactor, specific assumptions are made about the extent of mixing:
1. No mixing in the axial direction, i.e., the direction of flow
2. Complete mixing in the radial direction
3. A uniform velocity profile across the radius
Plug flow reactors may be configured as one long tube or a number of shorter tubes. They .
ange in diameter from a few centimeters to several meters. The choice of diameter is based
on construction cost, pumping cost, the desired residence time, and heat transfer needs.
Typically, long small diameter tubes are used with high reaction rates and larger diameter
tubes are used with slow reaction rates.
The absence of longitudinal mixing is the special characteristics of this type of reactor.
It is an assumption at the opposite extreme from the complete mixing assumption of the
ideal stirred tank reactor. The validity of the assumptions will depend on the geometry of
the reactor and the flow conditions. Deviations, which are frequent but not always
important, are of two kinds:
1. Mixing in longitudinal direction due to vortices's and turbulence
2. Incomplete mixing in radial direction in laminar flow conditions. The control of Plug
Flow Reactor process a problem frequently encountered in the chemical industries.
Controlling Plug Flow Reactor in chemical industries is very challenging because of the time
varying and nonlinear characteristics of the Plug Flow Reactor processes. Nonlinear model
of Plug flow reactor (PFR) process model is used to estimate the key unit operation
variables to reach a specified output.
1.1.2.2 Type of Nonlinear process mode
There are 3 type of nonlinear process model. There are: •
1,Fundamental models
2,• Empirical model
✔ Wiener
✔ NARMAX
✔ Artificial neural network
•
3,Hybrid models
1.2 Objective of this project
1.2.1 General objective: The main objective of this project is to provide design
improvements to the tubular reactor and Development of mathematical model.
1.2.2 Specific objectives:
1,Development of mathematical model for PFR process based on first principles.
2, Validation of mathematical model through experimentation.
3, Simulation studies under steady and unsteady state conditions
1.3 Problem Statement
PFR control is well known as a difficult problem frequently encountered in the
chemical process and biotechnology industries It has be recognized as a challenging
problem due to the time varying and nonlinear characteristics of the Ph process.
The difficulty arises from the high nonlinearities of the process Because of the PFR
process nonlinear characteristic, the linear model cannot predict the process behavior
accurately in all operating region. The steady state gain of PFR process shows
significant variation with the change of in the operating point.
This makes it difficult to design a single linear controller to perform accurately in all
the regions. This is because linear model only acceptable when the process operates
at a single set point. The problem is many chemical processes including PFR process
do not operate at single set points. They are often required to operate at different set
points depending on the product needed.