Material balances for chemical reactors

This chapter discusses how material balances should be performed for the three fundamental reactor types used in reaction engineering. These include the plug flow reactor (PFR), the continuous stirred tank reactor (CSTR), and the perfectly mixed batch reactor. In a batch reactor, all of the reactants are supplied to the reactor at the outset; there is no addition of reactants or removal of products during the reaction. Meanwhile, a PFR is a special type of tubular reactor. Feed is continuously supplied to the reactor and products are continually removed. The CSTR, like the PFR, has a continuous supply of feed while products are continually removed. However, in this case, perfect mixing is achieved, i.e. there are no concentration or temperature gradients within the reactor.