Introduction into Reaction Engineering

Usually, a Chemical Engineer is hired to:

·       maintain and operate a process

·       fix some perceived problem

·       increase capacity or selectivity at minimum cost

Some of the major challenges in the design of chemical reactors include:

·       Searching for alternate processes to replace old ones

·       Finding ways to make a product from different feedstocks

·       Reducing or eliminating a troublesome by product

The reaction rate is the rate at which a species loses its chemical identity per unit volume. The rate of a reaction can be expressed as the rate of disappearance of a reactant or as the rate of appearance of a product. Consider species A:

Catalysts are an important aspect of reaction engineering. They alter the speed of a reaction by lowering the activation energy of a reaction. The activation energy of a reaction is the amount of energy needed to produce a forward or reverse reaction. In the following figure we can see the activation energy of a non catalytic reaction (red line), while the green line represents the same reactions activation energy when a catalyst is used.

Examples 

What are reversible reactions?