Plug flow reactor

A continuous reactor in which fluid moves through a tube with limited axial mixing. Its ideal model assumes uniform flow across each cross-section and no mixing between fluid parcels along the tube.

Residence time: The time a fluid element spends inside a system or process. Flow rate and reactor volume set how long reactants remain available to react.
Chemical reaction engineering: The study and design of systems that carry out chemical reactions at useful scales. Plug flow reactors are one of its central ideal reactor models.
Reactor design equation: An equation relating reactor size, feed conditions, conversion, and reaction rate. Its plug-flow form integrates the changing rate over conversion.
Continuous stirred-tank reactor: A continuous reactor whose contents are ideally mixed uniformly throughout. Complete mixing gives it a different concentration profile and conversion from plug flow.
Axial dispersion model: A reactor model that represents longitudinal mixing as dispersion superimposed on flow. It relaxes the ideal reactor’s assumption of zero mixing along the tube.
Material balance: An accounting equation that tracks the input, output, and accumulation of a conserved quantity. A differential material balance along the tube produces the plug-flow design equation.
Tubular reactor: A reactor in which reactants flow through an elongated tube while reacting. A tubular reactor can approximate plug flow when axial mixing is limited.
Batch reactor: A reactor in which a fixed quantity of material reacts without continuous feed or discharge. It changes composition over time rather than along a continuous flow path.
Reactor residence time distribution: A description of the spread of times that fluid elements spend in a reactor. A narrow distribution indicates behavior closer to ideal plug flow.
Chemical kinetics: The study of reaction rates and how they depend on conditions and composition. Kinetics supplies the rate law used to predict conversion along the reactor.

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