Page 168 - Elements of Chemical Reaction Engineering 3rd Edition
P. 168
140 Isothermal Reactor Design Chap. 4
CSTRs in Parallel. We now consider the case in which equal-sized reactors
are placed in parallel rather than in series, and the feed is distributed equally
among each of the reactors (Figure 4-5). A balance on any reactor, say i, gives
Figure 4-5 CSTRs in parallel.
the individual reactor volume
(4-12)
Since the reactors are of equal size, operate at the same temperature, and
have identical feed rates, the conversion will be the same for each reactor:
x, = x - ... = x, = x
-
2
as will be the rate of reaction in each reactor
The volume of each individual reactor, Vi, is related to the total volume,
V; of all the reactors by the equation
V
Vi = -
n
A similar relationship exists for the total molar flow rate:
