Essentials of Chemical Reaction Engineering, 2nd Edition

8. Multiple Reactions

Sometimes you just have to jump and build your wings on the way down.

—Carol Craig, entrepreneur

Overview. Seldom is the reaction of interest the only one that occurs in a chemical reactor. Typically, multiple reactions will occur, some desired and some undesired. One of the key factors in the economic success of a chemical plant is the minimization of undesired side reactions that occur along with the desired reaction.

In this chapter, we discuss reactor selection and general mole balances, net rates, and relative rates for multiple reactions.

First, we describe the four basic types of multiple reactions:

• Series

• Parallel

• Independent

• Complex

Next, we define the selectivity parameter and discuss how it can be used ...