Parts of Chemical Reactors

Nowadays knowledge has become the key feature for the development of a great personality, it can be in any form or field but you must be very keen and experienced in that field to show you up to the mark. For becoming a knowledgeable person you must have an idea about each and every part related to your field so that you can help in the decision-making body system. A great understanding of each and every part makes that person wise and thus gets a good position in the system. The parts of the chemical reactors must be very well known to the people working on it so that they can make a decision if some problem is likely to happen.

Major Component of chemical Reactor

The major component that helps to complete the procedure of the reaction in the reactors are listed below.

1. Reaction Vessel –

• The reaction vessel is the component in which the reaction goes on and thus comes in direct contact with the chemicals in use.
• The material of construction for the reaction vessels must be chosen wisely so that it does not get reacted further with the different chemicals when in contact with it.
• The different MOC related to the vessel can be SS, MS, CI, Hastelloy, Inconel, Glass lining, etc. are used as per the need for the different applications.

2. Inlet/outlet lines in the chemical reactor –

• The basic role of these lines is to supply or take away the material from the reactor.
• The MOC for the line is decided by the type of chemical which is to be supplied, as the material will be in direct contact with the lines so its material must be also chosen in that way only so that it does not harm the pipeline.
• The size of the line is decided by the required flow rate in need. A proper line size helps the chemical to flow with full potential.
• Static charge is mostly generated while handling the chemical so to withdraw this dip pipe is used in the reactor so that the consequences of fire must be overtaken.
• The material with high or low in ph value can play a role in damaging the material of the pipe, so to void the splashing of chemical out of the flange end, Flange Guards are installed to avoid any further accidents.

3. Reactor Jacket –

• The reaction in the reactor takes place at a specific condition and thus this condition is a basic need to be achieved so that we can get the required crude for the production purpose. For achieving this condition we must either raise or lower the value of the temperature and thus this condition is fulfilled with the help of the jacket provided at the outer of the reaction vessel.
• The utility used in this jacket mostly is steam, cooling water, chilled water, chilled brine, hot oil, hot water, etc. with the help of these utilities our requirement for the reaction can be achieved.

4. Agitator and Baffles –

• The basic role of providing Agitator in the reaction vessel is to have a better mixing of heat and mass so that a proper chemical composition can be achieved very well. It also helps to maintain particles in suspension to avoid any decomposition in the reaction.
• Baffles are provided in the reactor for stopping the formation of the vortex into the vessel which thus misleads the proper formation of the chemical composition.
• Vortex is basically formed in an un-baffled tank due to the centrifugal motion of the rotating liquid and thus creates a swirling motion & a V shape surface is formed which is said to be the formation of the vortex in that vessel.

Few basic concepts to be remembered

• The steam must always be supplied from the reaction top as it has the tendency to condensate itself, so if it is supplied from the top then condensate can move down and providing a path in the jacket. If the steam is supplied from the bottom the then the condensate won’t let steam to pass and block its way for the proper heating of the rector.
• All the utilities except steam are provided from the bottom of the reactor as it helps to increase the retention time needed for attaining the proper temperature as it will pass on very slowly if supplied from the bottom. If you supply it from the top then your utility will pass out in very few times and thus increases the requirement of the utility in use.
• The vent valve of the receiving and transferring vessel must always be open at the time of transferring of liquid. This is done because there are chances of vacuum been produce and thus will cause the receiver vessel to get pressurized.

Types of Agitators

1. Anchor type Agitator –

• This type of agitator has a diameter of about 95% of that of the tank internal diameter.
• Anchor Agitators are mostly preferred as it is efficient in maintaining a heat exchange range between the reactor walls and the reaction mass is used.
• Its disadvantage is that it consumes a lot of power for its functioning and thus is provided with a heavy-duty Gearbox.
• These agitators are basically used for slurry and sticky material and the reaction type must be exothermic or may be endothermic.

2. Paddle type Agitator –

• The size of this agitator is mostly preferred to be 50-80% of the tank internal diameter.
• These types of agitators are mostly used for the mixing of viscous fluids or slow settling slurries.
• If the tank of the level varies a lot then this sort of agitators are mostly preferred due to such design made out of it.

3. Turbine type Agitator –

• The size of this agitator is mostly preferred to be 30-50% of the tank internal diameter. The blades are pitched at an angle of 45⁰ so as to decrease the power consumption by few amounts.
• It is mostly preferred for liquid, gas & dispersion reactions undertaking in the vessel.
• It helps to create radial as well as the tangential flow in the vessel; this is possible due to its design and low operating speed.
• The radial impeller is used for gas dispersion operation whereas the axial turbine is used for chemical reactions and suspension solid process.

4. Propeller(Marine) type Agitator –

• This agitator provides an axial direction motion but in a downward direction.
• It helps in consuming low power and also produces low turbulence.
• It is mostly preferred for the mixing of low or medium viscous material.