Essentials of Chemical Reaction Engineering

12.3.2 Applying the Algorithm to an Endothermic Reaction

In Example 12-1 we studied the four different types of heat exchanger on an exothermic reaction. In this section we carry out the same study on an endothermic reaction.

Example 12-2. Production of Acetic Anhydride

Jeffreys,² in a treatment of the design of an acetic anhydride manufacturing facility, states that one of the key steps is the endothermic vapor-phase cracking of acetone to ketene and methane:

CH₃COCH₃ → CH₂CO CH₄

He states further that this reaction is first-order with respect to acetone and that the specific reaction rate can be expressed by

E12-2.1

where k is in reciprocal ...