reaction

general information

experiments:

flooding point

fluid flow

heat exchange

membrane separation

reverse osmosis

air drying

batch and plug flow reactors

distillation

liquid/liquid extraction

plate and frame filtration

Reaction

Chemical reaction engineering is a field which is exclusive to chemical engineers. Processing materials to create new raw materials and/or finished products is a foundational driving force behind business and national and global economy. From foodstuffs to plastics, from pharmaceuticals to cosmetics the things we buy and sell need chemical reaction engineering. In this experiment students explore a fundamental aspect of this foundational field.

In reaction engineering chemical engineers apply their design knowhow to design reactor that will produce products on specification and in the amounts needed. A key parameter in that design process is the rate of reaction. In this experiment students reverse the process and use an existing reactor to determine the rate of reaction for a solution of ethyl acetate mixed with sodium hydroxide solution. In particular, they may find the rate constant for the reaction at the conditions in the experiment.

A .pdf version of the experiment instructions are avalaible for download on Cooper Union's internal server.

reactor.pdf