The reactionis carried out adiabatically in a series of staged packed-bed reactors with in...

The reaction

is carried out adiabatically in a series of staged packed-bed reactors with interstage cooling (see Figure 11-5). The lowest temperature to which the reactant

stream may be cooled is 27°C. The feed is equal molar in A and B and the catalyst weight in each reactor is sufficient to achieve 99.9% of the equilibrium conversion. The feed enters at 27°C and the reaction is carried out adiabatically If four reactors and three coolers are available, what conversion may be achieved?

Additional information:

First prepare a plot of equilibrium conversion as a function of temperature. [Partial ans.: T = 360 K, Xe = 0.984; T = 520 K, Xe = 0.09; T = 540 K, Xe = 0.057]