The Plug-Flow Tubular Reactor

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 plug flow reactor
Consider a tubular plug flow reactor, in which an irreversible,
chemical reaction is taking place. k is the reaction rate,
which depends on the reactor temperature via the Arrhenius
relationship. Feed material containing (mol/volume) of A enters
the reactor at temperature, and constant mass flow rate .
volumetric flow rate is F. Cross section area of the tube is AC.

C= 3.581011 s-1 (Pre exponential factor for Arrhenius relationship)

E/R= 9758.3 K
Tf = 300 K (Temperature of in-feed)
CAf= 5.1 kmol.m-3 (In-feed concentration of A)
F=2.99 x 10-3 m3/s
AC=0.2m2
CA0= 4kmol/m3

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 Defining System
u u m u u
c( x , t , u , ) x ( x b( x, t , u, )) s( x, t , u, )
m

x t x x x

C A 1 FC A
k0C Ae E / RT
t Ac z
c 1
Fu
b
Ac
s k0C Ae E / RT
m0 9
 Defining System
function
[c,b,s]=pdecoef(x,t,u,DuDx)
global Ac k k0
Ac=0.2; k=32.52; k0=3.58e-11;
c=1;
b=-(u*2.99e-3)/Ac;
s=-u*k0*exp(-k);
end

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 Initial Conditions
function u0=pdeic(x)
u0=4;
end

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 Boundary Conditions
p( xl, t, u ) q( xl, t ).b( xl, t, u, u x ) 0
p( xr , t, u ) q( xr , t ).b( xr , t, u, u x ) 0

Remember
pl= FCAf/AC ql=1 Fu
b
AC

pr= Fur/AC qr=1

Writing Boundary Condition m-file
function[pl,ql,pr,qr]=pdebc(xl,
ul,xr,ur,t)
global Ac F
Ac=0.2; F=2.99e-3;
pl=F*5.1/Ac;
ql=1;
pr=(ur*F)/Ac;
qr=1;
end
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 Calling the Solver
tend=100;
L=2;
m=0;
x=linspace(0,L,4);
t=linspace(0,tend,10);
sol=pdepe(m,@pdecoef,@pdeic,@pde
bc,x,t);

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 Plotting
Temperature=sol(:,:,1);
figure
plot(t,Temperature(:,1))
figure
u = sol(:,:,1);
surf(x,t,u);

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 3D Plot
Numerical solution computed with 400 mesh points

5.5
Concentration Ca

4.5

4
100
2
50 1.5
1
0.5
Time t 0 0
Distance x

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