The New Jersey Institute of Technology's
Electronic Theses & Dissertations Project

Title:	Kinetic modeling of a laminar-flow reactor
Author:	Chang, Shih-Hsin
View Online:	njit-etd1985-008 (viii, 110 pages ~ 3.1 MB pdf)
Department:	Department of Chemical Engineering and Chemistry
Degree:	Doctor of Engineering Science
Program:	Chemical Engineering
Document Type:	Dissertation
Advisory Committee:	Bozzelli, Joseph W. (Committee chair) Magee, Richard Stephen (Committee member) Petroulas, Theodore (Committee member) Lewandowski, Gordon (Committee member) Hanesian, Deran (Committee member)
Date:	1985
Keywords:	Chemical reactors. Laminar flow. Chemical reaction, Rate of.
Availability:	Unrestricted
Abstract:	The laminar-flow reactor considering radial dispersion for a species incurring first-order homogeneous (bulk) and heterogeneous (wall) chemical reactions was mathematically modeled. The equation was solved both analytically, and by the Crank-Nicolson finite-difference technique. The response surface method was used to obtain the optimum values of the two rate constants. The optimum values interact because the wall and bulk reactions proceed in parallel. Varied reactor diameters serve to decouple the bulk and wall reactions to locate the true values of the rate constants. Four dimensionless variables were defined and used to characterize the reacting system. In addition, their values were shown to determine the validity of the plug-flow model. The reaction model was used in conjunction with experimental data to obtain the reaction rate constants for a system containing 1,1, 1-trichloroethane and excess hydrogen, at temperatures ranging from 555 to 681 °C.