What is a Plug Flow Reactor?

What is a Plug Flow Reactor?

A plug flow reactor is an idealized reactor where the reacting systems travel as individual, non-interacting packets or plugs of material through the reactor. Each plug spends exactly the same time in the reactor and, at steady state, the extent of reaction in each plug is the same as that in a batch reactor operated for that amount of time.

This, of course, does not exist. Plugs do transfer material with neighbouring plugs to some extent. Not all plugs spend the same amount of time in the reactor. An important challenge in reaction engineering is designing a reactor which, at a reasonable cost in capital and operating expenses, approximates a plug flow reactor and the next important challenge is to quantify the deviation from pluggy behaviour. The latter is often expressed through the dimensionless number called the Peclet number (Pe).

Although it is tempting to think that flow through a pipe or tube would closely approximate plug flow (Pe >> 1), this is only true when the flow is highly turbulent i.e. at high flow rates. In the laminar region, there is significant back mixing and the flow deviates strongly from pluggy flow. Using inserts like static mixers in the tubes can substantially address this problem but at the expense of higher pressure drops.

Another common way to approximate a plug flow behaviour is, counterintuitively, operating a series of stirred tanks. About 4-10 tanks in series come very close to plug flow for most practical applications.

The effect of deviation from plug flow on reactor performance is captured using the residence time distribution – which is readily obtained by tracer studies on the reactor. Once a residence time distribution is obtained, it can be used in a kinetic model of the reacting system to confidently predict the performance of the flow system.

Pluggy behaviour is highly desirable from a reaction engineering point of view since the pluggier the flow, the smaller is reactor required for the same performance.

Amar Equipments Pvt. Ltd. has brought together a wide range of expertise in chemistry, reaction engineering, mechanical engineering, design and fabrication to offer you a range of well-engineered, well-characterized devices that can meet your needs from laboratory to plant scale. We offer several passive plug flow designs for fast reactions (AMaR-4 & AMaR-4P) and compact actively agitated designs (SlurryFlo Reactor) for the slower reactions that need a higher residence time or for high viscous materials that cannot be readily pumped through tubes.

Whatever your flow needs, you are sure to find a solution at Amar. Your one-stop-shop for all things flow.