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Chemical and Material
Engineering Department
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CHE435L UNIT OPERATIONS
LABORATORY
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Instructor:
Thuan Ke Nguyen Office
Hours
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Batch Reactor
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Batch Reactor Kinetic Analysis
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Our process engineers are currently working on developing a process that has an undesirable side reaction, the saponification of ethyl acetate. They would like to know the kinetics of the reaction since this reaction is of considerable importance in their process. We want your group to find out as much as possible in the allotted time. If possible find the overall reaction order, the reaction order with respect to each of the reacting species, the reaction rate constant, and the temperature dependency of this rate constant. In your report please verify your conclusions with information available in the literature.
Our technician has suggested the following procedure:
Prepare a 0.01N solution of NaOH and ethyl acetate. Place 250 ml of NaOH, ethyl acetate, and the reactor into a water bath maintained at a constant temperature. Do not combine the reactants at this time. This step is only to insure that when the reactants are combined at a later time, the system will be at a constant uniform temperature.
Conductivity measurements may be used to follow the progress of the reaction. One may show that the ratio of the difference of conductivity at time zero and at time t to the difference of conductivity at time zero and at reaction completion is directly proportional to the extent of reaction because the conductivities of ethyl acetate and ethyl alcohol may be ignored. Starting and final conductivities are best found by extrapolation.
Make sure you properly calibrate the probe, handle the probe with care, and
properly clean the probe at the end of the experiment.