Plug-flow Reactor (plug-flow + reactor)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Fast and Almost Complete Nitridation of Mesoporous Silica MCM-41 with Ammonia in a Plug-Flow Reactor

JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN CERAMIC SOCIETY, Issue 1 2010
Fumitaka Hayashi
The title reaction proceeded well to yield silicon (oxy)nitride at 973,1323 K using a plug-flow reactor. The degree of nitridation was studied as a function of temperature and time of nitridation, the sample weight, and the flow rate of ammonia. It was dependent on the reaction temperature and the amount of ammonia supplied per sample weight. The nitridation at 1273 K for 10,25 h yielded the oxynitride with 36,39 wt% nitrogen, which was very close to 40 wt% of Si3N4. Characterization with X-ray diffraction, field-emission scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy measurements, and nitrogen adsorption revealed the conversion of MCM-41 to the corresponding oxynitride without essential loss of the mesoporous structure, the decrements of the lattice constant and the pore diameter by 20,35%, and the increments of the wall thickness by ca. 45%. Solid-state 29Si nuclear magnetic resonance spectra during the nitridation clearly showed fast decrease in SiO4 species and slow in SiO3(OH). Various intermediate species, SiOxNy(NH2 or NH)z, were observed to be formed and finally, ca. 70% SiN4 species, ca. 20% SiN3(NH2 or NH), and ca. 10% SiON2(NH2 or NH) were produced, being consistent with the results of the above mentioned elemental analysis. [source]


Multiparameter models for performance analysis of UASB reactors

JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL TECHNOLOGY & BIOTECHNOLOGY, Issue 8 2008
C M Narayanan
Abstract BACKGROUND: UASB (upflow anaerobic sludge blanket) bioreactors have the distinct advantage that they do not demand support particles and provide a high rate of bioconversion even with high strength feedstocks. Although apparently simple in construction, the performance analysis of these reactors involves a high degree of mathematical complexity. Most simulation models reported in the literature are rudimentary in nature as they involve gross approximations. In the present paper, two multiparameter simulation packages are presented that make no simplifying assumptions and hence are more rigorous in nature. RESULTS: The first package assumes the sludge bed to be a plug-flow reactor (PFR) and the sludge blanket to be an ideal continuous stirred tank reactor (CSTR). The second package equates the reactor to a plug flow dispersion reactor (PFDR), the axial dispersion coefficient however being a function of axial distance. The three phase nature of the sludge blanket has been considered and the variation of gas velocity in the axial direction has been taken into account. Three different kinetic equations have been considered. Resistance to diffusion of substrate into sludge granules has been accounted for by incorporating appropriately defined effectiveness factors. The applicability of simulation packages developed has been ascertained by comparing with real-life data collected from industrial/pilot plant/laboratory UASB reactors. The maximum deviation observed is ± 15%. CONCLUSIONS: Although the software packages developed have high computational load, their applicability has been successfully ascertained and they may be recommended for design and installation of industrial UASB reactors and also for the rating of existing installations. Copyright © 2008 Society of Chemical Industry [source]


Analysis of a pressure-driven folding flow microreactor with nearly plug-flow characteristics

AICHE JOURNAL, Issue 8 2010
A. Vikhansky
Abstract We discuss the possibility of designing a pressure-driven single-phase microreactor with characteristics similar to that in an ideal plug-flow reactor. We consider equations for the moments of the residence time distribution and investigate the behavior of the solution in long spatially-periodic channels. If the microreactor consists of a large number of folding flow elements, the chaotic advection plays a double role: it mixes the chemical species and suppresses the axial dispersion. It is shown using analytical estimates and numerical modeling that chemical reactions have different sensitivity to the axial dispersion and for some reactions the effect of dispersion can be successfully eliminated. © 2009 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 2010 [source]


On the continuum approximation of large reaction mixtures

AICHE JOURNAL, Issue 7 2010
Teh C. Ho
Abstract In analyzing a reaction mixture of very many components, treating the mixture as a continuum can produce results of generality. In many practical situations (e.g., hydrodesulfurization), it is highly desirable to predict the overall behavior of the mixture at large times (high conversions) with minimum information on the mixture property. For irreversible first-order reactions in a plug-flow reactor, it was previously shown that the continuum approximation cannot be valid at arbitrarily large times. This work is an investigation of the validity of the approximation for mixtures with complex kinetics. It is found that the approximation can be conditionally or universally valid, depending on kinetics, reactor type, pore diffusion, and mixture properties. The validity conditions for a variety of situations, nontrivial as they may seem, take a power-law form. Backmixing and pore diffusion widen the range of validity. The underlying physics and some dichotomies/subtleties are discussed. The results are applied to catalytic hydroprocessing in petroleum refining. © 2009 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 2010 [source]


Selectivity effects on series reactions by reactant storage and PSA operation

AICHE JOURNAL, Issue 11 2000
Adriaan J. Kodde
This work evaluates adsorptive reactors used to improve the operation of a sequential reaction scheme, , for the total removal of A from a stream with an excess of B. In the adsorptive-reactor concept, the reactor is filled with a physical mixture of catalyst and an adsorbent, the latter being thermodynamically selective toward primary reactant A. In this case, the sorbent is periodically regenerated using the principles of pressure swing adsorption and purged with secondary reactant D. This concept is restricted to low temperatures to have sufficient adsorption capacity. Improved reaction selectivity arises from the accumulation of A in the unit. The reaction of A maximizes the driving force for regeneration and thus accelerates the regeneration half-cycle. The adsorptive reactor is compared to a conventional plug-flow reactor (PFR) and to PSA and PFR units in series. Reaction selectivity improved and pure B recovered over these alternative reactors under realistic conditions. The volume-based productivity is lower than that of PFR, but higher than that of PSA. The purge-gas flow rate can be manipulated to balance the sorption flux and reaction rate, thereby maximizing the conversion of A. The influence of differences in sorption kinetics is discussed and the required sorbent characteristics are identified. [source]


Fast and Almost Complete Nitridation of Mesoporous Silica MCM-41 with Ammonia in a Plug-Flow Reactor

JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN CERAMIC SOCIETY, Issue 1 2010
Fumitaka Hayashi
The title reaction proceeded well to yield silicon (oxy)nitride at 973,1323 K using a plug-flow reactor. The degree of nitridation was studied as a function of temperature and time of nitridation, the sample weight, and the flow rate of ammonia. It was dependent on the reaction temperature and the amount of ammonia supplied per sample weight. The nitridation at 1273 K for 10,25 h yielded the oxynitride with 36,39 wt% nitrogen, which was very close to 40 wt% of Si3N4. Characterization with X-ray diffraction, field-emission scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy measurements, and nitrogen adsorption revealed the conversion of MCM-41 to the corresponding oxynitride without essential loss of the mesoporous structure, the decrements of the lattice constant and the pore diameter by 20,35%, and the increments of the wall thickness by ca. 45%. Solid-state 29Si nuclear magnetic resonance spectra during the nitridation clearly showed fast decrease in SiO4 species and slow in SiO3(OH). Various intermediate species, SiOxNy(NH2 or NH)z, were observed to be formed and finally, ca. 70% SiN4 species, ca. 20% SiN3(NH2 or NH), and ca. 10% SiON2(NH2 or NH) were produced, being consistent with the results of the above mentioned elemental analysis. [source]


Immobilization of ,-Galactosidase on Fibrous Matrix by Polyethyleneimine for Production of Galacto-Oligosaccharides from Lactose

BIOTECHNOLOGY PROGRESS, Issue 2 2002
Nedim Albayrak
The production of galacto-oligosaccharides (GOS) from lactose by Aspergillus oryzae ,-galactosidase immobilized on cotton cloth was studied. A novel method of enzyme immobilization involving PEI,enzyme aggregate formation and growth of aggregates on individual fibrils of cotton cloth leading to multilayer immobilization of the enzyme was developed. A large amount of enzyme was immobilized (250 mg/g support) with about 90,95% efficiency. A maximum GOS production of 25,26% (w/w) was achieved at near 50% lactose conversion from 400 g/L of lactose at pH 4.5 and 40 °C. Tri- and tetrasaccharides were the major types of GOS formed, accounting for about 70% and 25% of the total GOS produced in the reactions, respectively. Temperature and pH affected not only the reaction rate but also GOS yield to some extend. A reaction pH of 6.0 increased GOS yield by as much as 10% compared with that of pH 4.5 while decreased the reaction rate of immobilized enzyme. The cotton cloth as the support matrix for enzyme immobilization did not affect the GOS formation characteristics of the enzyme under the same reaction conditions, suggesting diffusion limitation was negligible in the packed bed reactor and the enzyme carrier. Increase in the thermal stability of PEI-immobilized enzyme was also observed. The half-life for the immobilized enzyme on cotton cloth was close to 1 year at 40 °C and 21 days at 50 °C. Stable, continuous operation in a plug-flow reactor was demonstrated for about 3 days without any apparent problem. A maximum GOS production of 26% (w/w) of total sugars was attained at 50% lactose conversion with a feed containing 400 g/L of lactose at pH 4.5 and 40 °C. The corresponding reactor productivity was 6 kg/L/h, which is several-hundred-fold higher than those previously reported. [source]


A Review on Residence Time Distribution (RTD) in Food Extruders and Study on the Potential of Neural Networks in RTD Modeling

JOURNAL OF FOOD SCIENCE, Issue 6 2002
G. Ganjyal
ABSTRACT: Residence time distribution and mean residence time depend on process variables, namely feed rate, screw speed, feed moisture content, barrel temperature, die temperature and die diameter. Flow in an extruder has been modeled by simulating residence time distribution, assuming the extruder to be a series of continuous-stirred-tank or plug-flow reactors. Others have developed relationships for mean residence time as functions of process variables. Better models can be developed using neural networks. As an example, data from the literature were used to model mean residence time as a function of process variables using statistical regression and neural networks. Neural network models performed better than regression models. [source]


The Influence of Differences Between Microchannels on Micro Reactor Performance

CHEMICAL ENGINEERING & TECHNOLOGY (CET), Issue 3 2005
E. R. Delsman
Abstract Microstructured reactors most often contain a large number of micrometer-sized, parallel channels, instead of a large undivided reaction volume. Individual microchannels behave as plug-flow reactors without significant axial dispersion and with excellent heat and mass transfer properties. However, since the reaction takes place in a large number of parallel channels, it is important that all channels provide equal residence time and amount of catalyst volume. These issues depend not only on the flow distributor design, but also, for example, on the manufacturing tolerances. Correlations are derived to express the conversion of a multichannel microreactor explicitly as a function of the variance of a number of reactor parameters, viz. the channel flow rate, the channel diameter, the amount of catalyst in a channel, and the channel temperature. It is shown that the influence of flow maldistribution on the overall reactor conversion is relatively small, while the influences of variations in the channel diameter and the amount of catalyst coating are more pronounced. The model outcomes are also compared to experimental results of two microreactors with different catalyst distributions, which show that the presented method is able to provide a quick, though rough estimation of the influence of differences between channels on microreactor performance. [source]