Elements of Chemical Reaction Engineering, 6th Edition

15. Diffusion and Reaction

The breakfast of champions is not a cereal, it’s your opposition.

—Nick Steitz

Overview. In this chapter, we will develop models for diffusion with reaction in single-phase and two-phase systems. We start off with a discussion of diffusion and reaction in catalyst pellets. In Chapter 10, we assumed each point on the interior of the catalyst pellet’s surface was accessible to the same concentration. However, when the reactants must diffuse inside the catalyst pellet’s in order to react, we know the concentration at the pore mouth must be higher than that inside the pore. Consequently, the entire catalytic surface is not accessible to the same concentration; therefore, the rate of reaction throughout the pellet will ...