Reaction Engineering

Learning Outcomes

Disciplinary Specific Learning Outcomes

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• Consider and evaluate designs and select different types of reactors for different reactions; and reactors (batch and flow)
• Extend on the understanding of multiple reactions and how these can be manipulated to maximise products; including unsteady-state operation;

Knowledge and Understanding

Having successfully completed this module, you will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:

• Understand the principles of chemical reactions and how these are applied to the design of reactors;
• Describe the various reactor types used in continuous and batch processing.
• Explain the thermodynamic, equilibrium and kinetic aspects of chemical reactions that contribute to the energy and mass balances that must be considered in reactor design;

Subject Specific Intellectual and Research Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• Interpret heat effects in reactions and to be able to perform energy balances in reactions;

Subject Specific Practical Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• Collect and interpret kinetic data from experiments and relate these to scaled up reactors for applications at an industrial scale
• Apply concepts of safety, health and sustainability to complex systems that include chemical reactors;

Kinetics of a reaction – reaction rate, reaction extent, conversion, yield and selectivity. Batch and flow reactors and the general mole balance equation. Design equations for batch reactors and continuous-stirred tank reactors. Levenspiel plots and reactors in series. Design equations for plug-flow and packed-bed reactors. Reactors with variable volume and isothermal reactor design. Isothermal design for tubular reactors. Space time and space velocity. Damköhler numbers. Non-isothermal reactors – heats of reaction and energy balances. Collection of rate data. Multiple reactions and gaseous reactions. Reactor design and scale-up. Computational design and simulation of reactors and reactions. Distribution of Residence Times. Green Chemistry and Industrial Reaction Engineering.

Practical: Completion of two practical exercises to illustrate the operation of various reactor types.

Teaching will be done with a combination of formal lectures, paper-based problem-solving sessions and laboratory sessions. There will be a emphasis on active learning techniques, including workshops and tutorial sessions that focus on exercises and problems.

Summative

This is how we’ll formally assess what you have learned in this module.