Question

QUESTION 3: 10 marks A liquid phase isomerization reaction A--> was carried out in a Packed- 10 bed Reactor with a solid catalyst. The reaction is very fast and the overall rate-controlling step is the external mass transfer between catalyst surface and the bulk fluid. Recently, market demand for the product has fallen by 50%, due to Covid-19 pandemic. Therefore, the management has decided to cut the production by half so that the raw material consumption can be reduced by half and the cost of production can be reduced. This can be accomplished by decreasing the volumetric flow rate to the packed bed by a half and by removing some catalyst from the reactor, so that the catalyst can be conserved. But the same conversion of A to B has to be maintained in the reactor as before, so that expected amount of B is produced. How much catalyst can be removed in terms of the length of packing in the column, compared to the existing one, it all other operating variables except volumetric fiow rate are maintained constant? Start your analysis with a schematic drawing of both the cases Indicating the streams and symbols for all the relevant variables trees

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Answer 1