How to ensure Complete Radial Mixing during Chemical Transformation

Posted by Christian Silmaro on August 31st, 2016

Plug Flow reactor describes the complete chemical reaction in continuous, flowing system within a cylindrical structure. The enclosed structure offers basic information about the chemical reaction and the condition facilitating the reaction in a positive direction. Another name of the reactor is a continuous flow reactor because of the reactor receives continuous inflow and outflow of material throughout the process.

The reactor is also called as piston flow reactor because the tubular reactor comprises of a plug that regulates the flow of liquid within the cylindrical reactor. The reactor ensures radial mixing of the components present in the reactor and restricts the axial mixing. The reactor is well known in the chemical laboratories for this radial mixing property.

An ideal Plug Flow Reactor is well-known for the complete radial mixing facilitating and uniform fluid velocity in the reactor. The restricted axial mixing depends upon the dimension of the reactor and flow condition. The validity of the assumption of the chemical process, facilitating within the reactor depends on two factors: longitudinal mixing due to vortices and turbulence and restricted radial mixing in laminar flow condition.

The equipment is well known to perform radial mixing of liquids, gases, and slurries. It is useful to carry out chemical application involving Large-scale reactions, Fast reactions, Homogeneous or heterogeneous reactions, Continuous production, and High-temperature reactions. The PFR offers several advantages in chemical industries along with the radial mixing of the components. It ensures the high volumetric unit conversion for a long-time and requires little or less maintenance. The reactor can effectively control heat transfer rate by using thinner and fewer tubes in parallel arrangements.

PFR also offers some disadvantages while analyzing a chemical process. In comparison with the continuous flow reactor, plug flow reactor requires maintenance of the system. It is difficult to control temperature in PFR as compared with the CFTR.

An ideal PFR feature complete radial mixing, zero axial mixing and contains a tube packed with a free catalyst to facilitate the chemical process. A typical fractional distillation has a fixed residence time. Where, Residence time denotes the factor by which the chemical process is proceeding in the reactor. For, the PFR packed with free catalyst also called as Packed bed reactors. The reactor is used efficiently in industrial areas to analysis the chemical transformation taking place throughout the chemical reaction in a continuous flow of liquid. It provides procedural step of the chemical reaction.