ABSTRACT
In the previous chapters, the reactors were assumed to have ideal flow, which means perfect back-mixing for a stirred-tank reactor and plug flow (no mixing) for a pipeline or packed-bed reactor. This chapter deals first with stirred reactors that have concentration gradients because of mixing delays and later with tubular reactors that have a distribution of residence times because of axial mixing or channeling. The effect of nonideal flow on conversion in stirred tanks is small and can usually be neglected. The problem with mixing delays is that the selectivity may be decreased when the reactions are so fast that significant conversion occurs before complete mixing is achieved.
