Elements of Chemical Reaction Engineering, 6th Edition

17. Predicting Conversion Directly from the Residence Time Distribution

If you think you can, you can.

If you think you can’t, you can’t.

You are right either way.

—Steve LeBlanc

Overview. Chapter 16 showed how to determine the residence time distribution (RTD) functions E(t) and F(t) along with the mean residence time, t_m and the variance, σ², from concentration–time data. We then used the RTD to characterize and diagnose ideal reactors. Because the residence time distribution is not unique for a given reaction system, we must use models if we want to predict the conversion in our nonideal reactor. In this chapter, we will use the RTD function, that is, E(t), to predict the conversion, X, and the product distribution.

After completing this ...