Sultante of Oman

Ministry of Higher Education

College of Applied Sciences-Sohar
Engineering Department

CHEN3155 Chemical Reaction Engineering MidTerm 2

SPRING 2014

Date : 29th April 2014 Time : 08:00-09:00 am Number of pages : 4

Group : Student I.D :

Student Name: Solution

General Instructions:
The Maximum marks for this Test is 30.
Set out your work properly. Be clear, neat and concise.
If needed, rough work may be done in the last draft sheet provided. Rough work will not
be graded.
Turn off all GSMs
Use the Calculator in case of need.
Do not talk during the exam without permission from the invigilator.
Hand the exam paper back to your invigilator at the end of the exam.

Marks
Question Marks Scored Marks-in words
Allotted
1 20
2 10

Total 30

Examiner : Dr. Ibrahim Dubdub Signature:

Chief Reviewer:
Signature:

0
Q-1 CDP3-DB Old version (20 Marks)

Nitric acid is made commercially from nitric oxide. Nitric oxide is produced by the gas-phase
oxidation of ammonia.

4NH3 + 5O2 4NO + 6H2O

The feed consists of 15 mol% ammonia in air at 8.2 atm and 227C.

a) What is the total entering concentration?

b) What is the entering concentration of ammonia?
c) Set up a stoichiometric table with ammonia as your basis of calculation.

i) Express Ci for all species as functions of conversion for a constant-volume batch

reactor.

ii) Express Ci for all species as functions of conversion for a flow reactor.

d) Write the combined mole balance and rate law solely in terms of the molar flow rates and
rate law parameters for ci and cii above. Assume the reaction is first order in both
reactants

Additional information: R = 0.082 atm dm3/mol.K

Answer

Solution

(a) Assume ideal gas behavior.

Therefore,

(b) Entering concentration of ammonia

1
(c) Stoichiometric Table

2
3
(d) Combined mole balance and rate law

4
Q-2 CDP6-28B CD new OLD version P4-28 (10
Marks)

Ethyl acetate is an extensively used solvent and can be formed by the vapor-phase esterification
of acetic acid and ethanol. The reaction was studied using a microporous resin as a catalyst in a
packed bed reactor. The reaction is first-order in ethanol. For an equal molar feed rate of acetic
acid and ethanol, the specific reaction rate is 1.2 dm3/ g cat / min. The total molar feed rate is 10
mol/min, the initial pressure is 10 atm, the temperature is 118 C, and the pressure drop
parameter, , equals 0.01 g-1.

A. Calculate the maximum weight of catalyst that one could use and maintain an exit
pressure above 1 atm. Assume isothermal and = 0.

B. Determine the catalyst weight necessary to achieve 90% conversion.

Additional information: R = 0.082 atm dm3/mol.K, Assume isothermal and = 0.

Answer