Performance of Cylindrical Flow Reactors in a Kinetic Study of the Isomerization of Cyclopropane

Article abstract of DOI:10.1021/j100460a034

The interaction of mass and heat transfer with chemical reaction has been investigated for thermally induced reactions in cylindrical flow reactors.Theoretical expressions indicated that measured rate constants would be less than true rate constants under certain circumstances.Theseexpressions were tested by experiments on the isomerization of cyclopropane near 900 K.The effect of axial mass transfer on the measured rate constant was well represented by two expression from the literature.According to one of these, the measured rate constant would be reduced by a fraction approximately equal to kr²/(48D) + kDt²/l², where k is the true rate constant, D, the diffusion coefficient, t, the average residence time, and l, the reactor length.According to the other expression, an upper limit to the fractional reduction would be kr²/(48D) + kDt²/l² or 0.5 kt, whichever is smaller.For incomplete radial heat transfer, a new expression has been derived; it was found to adequately represent the experimental data.According to this expression, the fractional reduction in the measured rate constant is approximately r²/κt, where κ is the thermal diffusity.These expressions may be used to assist in selecting suitable conditions for kinetic experiments.