Your engineering group is asked to design a pilot chemical reactor for the production of ethylene glycol from ethylene chlorohydrin. EG is made commercially from the reaction of ethylene chlorohydrin with base. The reactants enter the tank where they are completely mixed. It is assumed that all material reacts immediately when it enters the tank, and so the concentration of all components is the same throughout the tank, and leaving the tank as well. The reaction is to take place at a constant temperature of 200 OF, and the reactor will be equipped with heat exchangers to keep the reaction isothermal.
Chemical reactor analyses begins with a material balance.
Your engineering team is responsible for a petroleum refining plant. The volume of products that can be produced from a given crude oil must be projected from its characteristics. Crude oil is composed of many different compounds that boil at characteristic boiling points ranging from 90oF to over 800oF. These compounds are mostly combinations of hydrogen and carbon atoms, called hydrocarbons. Separating crude oil according to these different boiling points is one of the first and most critical operations in the refinery, and is accomplished through fractional distillation. Every barrel of crude oil that enters the refinery is first sent to a large distillation column, operating at atmospheric pressure.