ABSTRACT

This experiment was conducted to determine the effect of pulse input to the concentration.
Reactant used in this experiment was sodium chloride and the equipment involved in this
experiment was continuous stirred tank reactor (CSTR) in series. Firstly, deionized water will
filled both tank 1 and tank 2. Sodium chloride were diluted in the tank 1. The three reactors was
filled with deionized water that come from the two tanks and the flow rate of the deionized water
was set up to 150 mL/min. The flow rate was set up on that value in order to prevent the overflow
from occurred. Reading at t0 was taken when all the conductivity reading for all three reactor were
stable enough that is when the reading among the three reactor quite similar. Then the conductivity
reading was taken every 3 minutes until the final reading of reactor 3 was almost the same as its
initial values. After finished collecting all the data, graph of conductivity versus time was plotted.
From the graph we can determine the effect of the pulse input to the concentration.

1.0 INTRODUCTION

The continuous flow stirred-tank reactor (CSTR), also known as vat- or back mix reactor,
is a common ideal reactor type in chemical engineering such as in the industrial chemical
processes. A CSTR often refers to a model used to estimate the key unit operation variables when
using a continuous agitated-tank reactor to reach a specified output. The mathematical model
works for all fluids: liquids, gases, and slurries (1).

Continuous stirred tank reactors (CSTR) are the most basic of the continuous reactors used
in chemical processes. The CSTR shown in Figure 1 below is a half-pipe coil jacketed reactor.
Continuous stirred-tank reactors (CSTRs) are open systems, where material is free to enter or exit
the system, that operate on a steady-state basis, where the conditions in the reactor don't change
with time. Reactants are continuously introduced into the reactor, while products are continuously
removed (2).

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 Figure 1.0 CSTR

CSTRs are very well mixed, so the contents have relatively uniform properties such as
temperature, density, etc. throughout. Also, conditions in the reactor's exit stream are the same as
those inside the tank. Systems connecting several CSTRs are used when the reaction is too slow.
Multiple CSTRs can also be used when two immiscible liquids or viscous liquids are present and
require a high agitation rate.

Continuous stirred-tank reactors are most commonly used in industrial processing,

primarily in homogeneous liquid-phase flow reactions, where constant agitation is required. They
may be used by themselves, in series, or in a battery. CSTR are also used in the pharmaceutical
industry as a loop reactor.

Continuous stirred-tank reactors has a lot of advantages such as ease in maintaining its ideal
temperature, low cost construction, has a large heat capacity and the interior of reactor is easily to
be accessed. However it also has its own disadvantages that is Conversion of reactant to product
per volume of reactor is small compared to other flow reactors.

2.0 OBJECTIVE

The objective of this experiment is to determine the effect of pulse input to the concentration.

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3.0 THEORY

General Mole Balance Equation:

0 + =
0

Figure 3.0

Assumptions:

1. At steady state, =0

2. Well mixed therefore is the same throughout the reactor

= =
0 0

Rearranging the generation;

0
=

In terms of conversion;
0
=
0
0
=

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Reactors in Series:
Given as a function of conversion, , = (), one can also design any sequence of
reactors in series provided there are no side streams by defining the overall conversion at
any point.

=

1 1
1

2
2
2
2

Figure 3.1 CSTR in series

Mole balance on reactor 1 Moles balance on reactor 2

+ = 0 + = 0

0 1 + 1 1 = 0 1 2 + 2 2 = 0

0 1 0 2
1 = 2 =
0 0

1 = 0 0 1 2 = 0 0 2

0 1 0 (2 1 )
1 = 2 =
1 2

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Given = () the Levenspiel Plot can be used to find the reactor volume

Figure 3.2 Levenspiel Plot

For a PFR between two CSTRs

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Effect of Pulse in Input Concentration to the Concentration of Solute in Stirred Tank in Series

When a pulse input of solute concentration is introduced at the feed of tank 1, the transient
behaviour will be different than the step change input due to the diminishing concentration from
the input after pulsing as described in Figure 3.3 .

Figure 3.3a Pulse Input Figure 3.3b Transient response of

tank in series to the pulse
input

4.0 APPARATUS AND MATERIALS

1. Continuous stirred tank reactor in series. (Model: BP107)

2. Sodium chloride
3. Distillation water
4. Stirrer system
5. Feed tanks
6. Waste tank
7. Conductivity meter
8. Stopwatch
Figure 4.0 Continuous stirred tank reactor in series.
9. Dead time coil (Model: BP107)

Figure 4.1 Conductivity meter 6

5.0 PROCEDURES

In this experiment, a pulse input would be introduced and the progression of the tracer will be
monitored via the conductivity measurements in all three reactors.

1. The general start up procedure was performed by following the instruction of the manual
given at the instrument.
2. The two 20-L feed tanks (tank 1 and tank 2) was filled with deionized water.
3. 300 g of sodium chloride was dissolved in tank 1. Make sure the salts dissolve entirely and
the solution is homogenous.
4. The three way valve (V3) was set to Position 2 so that the deionized water from tank 2 will
flow into reactor 1.
5. The pump 2 was switched on to fill up all three reactors with deionized water.
6. The flowrate (FL 1) was set to 150 ml/min by adjusting the needle valve (V4). Do not use too
high flowrate to avoid overflow. Make sure there was no air bubbles trapped in the pipings.
The stirrers 1, 2 and 3 was switched on.
7. Continue pumping the deionized water about 10 minutes until the conductivity readings for
all three reactors were stable at low values.
8. Conductivity values were recorded at t0 .
9. After 5 minutes, pump 2 was switched off. Valve (V3) switched to Position 1 and pump 1 was
switched on. Timer then started.
10. Let the pump 1 to be operated for 5 minutes, then pump 1 was switched off. The three way
valve (V3) was switched back to Position 2. Pump 2 was switched on.
11. The conductivity values was recorded for each of the reactors every three minutes.
12. The conductivity values was continuedly recorded until reading for reactor 3 is close to the
starting value recorded .
13. The pump 2 was switched off. Valve (V4) then closed.
14. All liquids in reactors were drained by opening valve (V5) and (V6).

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6.0 RESULTS

FT1 = 150 mL/min

Table 6.0 Data of Conductivity

Time QT1 QT2 QT3
(min) (mS/cm) (mS/cm) (mS/cm)
0 0.808 0.462 0.548
3 23.800 27.700 18.320
6 15.520 25.880 22.100
9 10.790 22.600 28.000
12 7.420 17.200 22.300
15 5.550 14.500 16.240
18 3.940 11.860 13.530
21 2.850 8.840 14.580
24 1.559 6.020 11.640
27 1.209 4.780 10.170
30 0.899 3.670 8.170
33 0.684 2.880 6.690
36 0.567 2.210 5.520
39 0.447 1.622 4.160
42 0.401 1.321 3.540
45 0.390 1.054 2.880
48 0.308 0.713 1.830
51 0.223 0.702 1.425
54 0.248 0.540 1.338
57 0.246 0.438 1.065
60 0.241 0.283 0.500

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 Concentration vs Time
35

30
Concentration (mS/cm)

25

20

15

10

0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Time (min)

QT1 (mS/cm) QT2 (mS/cm) QT3 (mS/cm)

Figure 6.0 Graph of Concentration versus Time

7.0 DISCUSSION

The main objectives in this experiment is to determine the effect of pulse input to the concentration
of reactant A. In this experiment, sodium chloride was used as reactant A. The values of
conductivity of the three reactors every three minutes were recorded until the values of
conductivity of reactor 3 closed to its starting values. Based on the calibration data obtained, we
can see that it took 60 minutes which is equivalent to 1 hour for the reactor 3 to have the same
calibrations reading as its initial values.

The concentration can be calculated using electrical conductivity measurements and calibration
supplied. From the data of calibrations obtained for the three reactors, graph of concentration
versus time was plotted to show the effect of pulse input in this experiment. From the graph plotted,
we can clearly observe that the calibration for all the three reactors increased until the 3rd minutes,
then it all decreased gradually along the time. However for reactor 3, the reading increase a bit at

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the 21th minutes which is from 13.350 mS/min to 14.580 mS/min at but it continue decrease back
to 11.640 mS/min. This may be due to error of reading which causing the reading to be a bit
different. And at the 60th minute it can be seen that the conductivity of the reactor 3 are almost
equal its starting values , the finals value reads for QT1 is 0.241 mS/min, QT2 is 0.283 mS/min,
and QT3 is 0.500 mS/min. The concentration of sodium chloride keep decreasing because the
deionized water were constantly supplied throughout the experiment which cause the sodium
chloride to diluted. As usual during conducting the experiment, there must be error that happen
such as the calibration meter suddenly turned off on its own which occur while the timer is still
running and causing the reading not to be taken accurately every 3 minutes. This cause the reading
to be inaccurate and the graph is not so smooth thus become a bit different if it was compared
with the theoretical graph.

8.0 CONCLUSIONS

It can be concluded that the experiment was successful. From the experiment, we can say that the
pulse input can affect the concentration at the reactor and graph was plotted based on the
calibration data obtained. It can be seen that from the graph plotted, the values of conductivity
decrease along the times. However the reading is a bit different if it was compared to the theoretical
graph but it still considered a successful experiment. The reading may be a different due to error
that occur during conducting the experiment.

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9.0 RECOMMENDATIONS

There are several recommendations that can be performed in order to decrease the percentage of
the error in order to increase the accuracy of the results such as

1. Make sure that the device used in this experiment such as calibration meter work smoothly
during conducting the experiment.
2. The general start-up procedures need to be performed before starting each of the
experiment. This is to ensure all the components of the unit are in good conditions and
working smoothly. It will affect the reading of the experiment and reduce the performance
of the unit if the components are not in satisfied conditions.
3. Student should aware of the timer so that the reading is obtained exactly at every 3
minutes.

10.0 REFERENCES

1. Farlex. Continuous stirred-tank reactor. The Free Dictionary. [Online] <a

href="https://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Continuous+stirred-tank+reactor">Continuous
stirred-tank reactor</a>.

2. Catalano, Sam. Visual Encyclopedia of Chemical Engineering. [Online]

http://encyclopedia.che.engin.umich.edu/Pages/Reactors/CSTR/CSTR.html.

11.0 APPENDIX

-see next page-

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