Calculate the Effectiveness Factor and Thiele Modulus for Catalyst Pellets

Question

Kinetics experiments were performed with several different sizes of spherical catalyst pellets. In all experiments, the bulk concentration of A was fixed at 0.050 mol/L, with A fed through the catalyst bed at 350°C. The reaction is suspected to be second order, of the form A → products. Data are shown in the table, below:

 
d_p, mm                1.0    5.0     20       
r_obs, molL^-1S^-l    10.5    4.8    1.5    

a) Determine the rate constant for the intrinsic reaction and the effective diffusivity based on the 5 mm and 20 mm particles. State all assumptions.

b) Determine the effectiveness factor and Thiele modulus for each particle.

Summary

The question belongs to Chemical Engineering and the question is about kinetic experiments on spherical catalyst pellets. The constant rate of intrinsic reaction and effective diffusivity and the effectiveness factor of thiele modules of each pellet has been calculated in the solution.

Note: The answers are in handwritten format