CHE 717 Chemical Reaction Engineering

3 Credit Hours

Rates and mechanisms of homogeneous and heterogeneous reactions. Design, analysis and scale-up of batch and continuous chemical reactors.

Prerequisites

An undergraduate course in chemical kinetics and reactor design that covered:
1. Ideal reactors (perfectly mixed batch, plug flow, and perfectly mixed continuous);
2. Application of these reactors to single and multiple reactions in isothermal operation; and
3. Analysis of kinetics data.
Mathematics of linear algebra and ordinary and partial differential equations; analytic and/or numerical solution of individual and coupled ordinary differential equations.

Course Objectives and Organization

The overall objectives are to master advanced concepts in chemical kinetics and reactor engineering and to relate these concepts to classic and current activities in chemical and biomolecular engineering. Specific objectives are:

Understand and apply the molecular principles of reaction types, thermochemistry, and kinetics for elementary homogeneous and heterogeneous reactions and for their networks .
Analyze and understand the local effects of momentum, heat, and mass transport on reactions;
Analyze, understand, and design reactors, including issues of selectivity, mass/energy-balance interactions including stability, and process intensification;

The class will begin with a rigorous re-examination of undergraduate fundamentals of reaction engineering.

Course Requirements

HOMEWORK: Problem sets will normally be assigned for every class period, normally with one set graded per week. Work is to be submitted electronically using Moodle class software. Homework and any in-class quizzes represent 10% of the numerical grade.

EXAMINATIONS: Two exams during the term, plus a comprehensive final exam, representing 20%, 35%, and 35% of the numerical grade. Any in-class quizzes will count as part of the homework grade.

SOFTWARE REQUIRED: Excel with the Solver add-in and MATLAB™ (or any comparable mathematical programming software).
MATLAB is available for free download to College of Engineering students at: http://www.eos.ncsu.edu/software/catalog. It is also cloud-accessible through the Virtual Computing Lab [vcl.ncsu.edu].

Textbook

G.F. Froment, K.B. Bischoff, J. De Wilde, Chemical Reactor Analysis and Design, 3rd Edition, John Wiley & Sons Inc., 2011. ISBN: 978-0-470-56541-4

Software

Updated 6/16/2020