RESIDENCE TIME DISTRIBUTION IN AN OPEN REACTOR:EFFECT OF BACKGROUND REACTANT ON TRACER DISPERSION

A new approach is presented for deriving the residence time distribution(RTD)in open-type reactors with exclusion of residence in the fore section.Inasmuch as failure to predict the con-version of chemical reactions has been evidenced in many occasions,numerical solution of tracerdispersion in the presence of background concentration gradient of reactant is given to demonstratethe strong effect of background reactant on the true RTD a reactant molecule experiences.Withinthe error of computation,the conversion of a first-order chemical reaction under steady state is shownto be equal in both closed and open reactors,despite difference in relevant RTDs