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- Catalog Description
- 430 Chemical Kinetics and Reactor Design. I, II; 3 cr. Analysis and interpretation of kinetic data and catalytic phenomena; application of basic engineering principles to chemical reactor design. P: CBE 311 & 320 or cons inst. Dumesic, Hill, Mavrikakis, Rawlings, Root.
- Course Prerequisite(s)
- Prerequisite knowledge and/or skills
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Ordinary differential equations
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Thermodynamics of open systems and chemical reactions
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Elementary chemical kinetics
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Transport phenomena
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Ability to use spreadsheets, equation solvers, and computer languages to analyze, manipulate, and plot data in a variety of formats
- Textbook(s) and/or other required material
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Hill, Introduction to Chemical Engineering Kinetics and Reactor Design, Wiley, 1977
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Rawlings and Ekerdt, Chemical Reactor Analysis and Design Fundamentals, Nob Hill Publishing, 2002
- Course objectives
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To develop the ability to analyze kinetic data and determine rate laws
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To obtain the ability to apply ideal reactor models
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To provide meaningful experience in solving mass and energy balances for chemical reactors
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To develop the ability to analyze the performance of reactors in which multiple reactions are occurring
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To develop the ability to analyze nonideal flow conditions in reactors and to develop the skill to utilize simple models to characterize the performance of such reactors
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To obtain the ability to analyze data for heterogeneous catalytic reactions and to employ the results of such analyses in designing simple reactors
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To develop the ability to analyze situations in which heterogeneous reactions are limited by diffusion or mass transfer processes
- Topics covered
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Review of thermodynamics and basic concepts
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Analysis of kinetic data
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Theoretical foundations of chemical kinetics (reaction mechanisms, collision theory, transition state theory, explosions)
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Analysis of complex reaction networks
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Design of ideal isothermal reactors
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Selectivity and optimization
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Temperature and energy effects
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Nonideal reactors/residence time considerations
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Adsorption and heterogeneous catalysis
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Role of mass transfer phenomena in catalytic reactions
- Class/laboratory schedule
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Class meets MWF, from 8:50-9:40 a.m.
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Discussion period M or T 2:25
- Contribution of course to meeting the professional component
- This course contributes primarily to the students' knowledge of engineering topics, and does provide design experience.
The following statement indicates which of the following considerations are included in this course: economic, environmental, ethical, political, societal, health and safety, manufacturability, sustainability.
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This course integrates the concepts of chemical kinetics with those of conservation of energy and mass to form a basis for designing common types of reactors (both batch and continuous flow) for operation under both isothermal and nonisothermal conditions. Emphasis is placed on the design and analysis of reactors for homogeneous reactions, but an introduction to reactor design for heterogeneous catalytic reactions is also provided.
Aspects of economics are included via analysis of the influence of differences in reactor size and type and differences in product distributions on process economics and their consequences for process design.
Safety considerations are presented via discussions of the kinetic aspects of chain branching and thermal explosions.
- Relationship of course to undergraduate degree program objectives and outcomes
- This course primarily serves students in the department. The information below describes how the course contributes to the undergraduate program objectives.
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This course integrates concepts from science and engineering to constitute a basis for the design of chemical reactors, a key element in the design of chemical processes. It involves applications of several aspects of physical chemistry (chemical kinetics and thermodynamics), mathematics (calculus and differential equations), computer science and statistics (data manipulation, regression analyses, and numerical procedures) and earlier chemical engineering courses (material balances, transport phenomena, and thermodynamics) to solve problems associated with both the design of chemical reactors and the analysis of their performance. Students learn to integrate their previous knowledge and apply basic concepts in solving engineering problems associated with the design and analysis of the performance of various types of reactors.
While developing the skills required to solve problems associated with the heart of chemical processes, namely transformation of feedstocks from one chemical form to another, the course also establishes a basis for a pattern of lifelong learning that fosters integration of concepts from several aspects of science and engineering.
- Assessment of student progress toward course objectives
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Homework (20%)
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Hour exams (45%)
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Final Exam (20%)
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Independent Project (5%)
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Class participation (10%)
- Person(s) who prepared this description
