ABSTRACT
A classical problem in chemical reaction engineering is the optimization of the reaction time for a batch process. On one hand, a long reaction time would guarantee a high conversion of the reactants, thus minimizing the cost of separating products from unreacted material; on the other hand, a shorter reaction time with a subsequent separation step might be economically more favorable. The theoretical optimization of the batch reactor alone did not take into account the required conversion of the reactant (A) and the required yield of the product. If the conversion of A is low according to this optimization, a separation step has to be included after the reactor and unreacted reactant is recycled, which has a tremendous impact on the process design and process operation by increasing both the investment and the operation costs. Second-order reactions appear frequently because many chemical processes involve interactions of two reactant molecules to achieve the desired product.
