ABSTRACT
Today, chemical reactors are used for the industrial conversion of raw materials into products. This is naturally facilitated by chemical reactions. Raw material molecules are referred to as reactants. Industrial reactors can be operated batchwise or in a continuous mode. In the batchwise operation mode, the reaction vessel is loaded with reactants, and the chemical reaction is allowed to proceed until the desired conversion of reactants into products has taken place. A more common approach is the continuous operation of a chemical reactor. Reactants are fed continuously into the reaction vessel, and a product flow is continuously taken out of it. If the desired product purity cannot be achieved in the reactor-as is often the case-one or several separation units are installed after the actual reactor. Common separation units include distillation, absorption, extraction, or crystallization equipment. A chemical reactor coupled with a separation unit constitutes the core of a chemical plant, as illustrated in Figure 1.1. The role of the chemical reactor is crucial for the whole process: product quality from the chemical reactor determines the following process steps, such as type, structure, and operation principles of separation units [1].
