Nonisothermal Plug-Flow Reactor

Application ID: 1404


This example considers the thermal cracking of acetone, which is a key step in the production of acetic anhydride. The gas phase reaction takes place under nonisothermal conditions in a plug-flow reactor. As the cracking chemistry is endothermic, control over the temperature in the reactor is essential in order to achieve reasonable conversion. When the reactor is run under adiabatic conditions, the model shows how the conversion of acetone can be affected by mixing the reactant with inert. Furthermore, it is illustrated how to affect the conversion of acetone by means of a heat exchanger supplying energy to the system.

The example details the use of the predefined Plug-flow reactor type in the Reaction Engineering interface and how to set up and solve models describing nonisothermal reactor conditions. You will learn how to model adiabatic reactor conditions as well as how to introduce heat exchange. The model also demonstrates how to import thermodynamic data the the CHEMKIN format.

This model example illustrates applications of this type that would nominally be built using the following products: