Consider a first order heterogeneous irreversible reaction taking place within a catalyst pore
which is plated with platinum entirely along the length of the pore. The reactant concentration at
the plane of symmetry (i.e. equal distance from the pore mouths) of the pore is equal to one-fifth
the concentration of the pore mouth. The concentration at the pore mouth is 0.002 g mol/dm3, the
pore length (2L) is 4x 10-3 cm, and the diffusion coefficient D is 0.2 cm2/s.
CAS CAS
L/3
Not drawn to scale
D
L
Z=0
(a) What is the concentration of reactant at L/3?
(b) To what length should the pore length be changed if the effectiveness factor is to be 0.9?
Solution:
In this case, the concentration at any location is given by
Z K
cosh Th 1 cosh L Z
CA
L De , where Th is the Thiele modulus, defined as
C AS cosh Th K
cosh L
De
2k s k
Th L L where ks is rate constant based on surface area and k is rate constant based
DR D
on pore volume.
tanh(Th)
The internal effectiveness factor is given by .
Th
At Z = L, the concentration is one fifth of concentration in the pore mouth. i.e.
C A cosh Th(1 1) cosh 0 1
C AS cosh Th cosh mL 5
But Cosh 0 1 Therefore, cosh Th 5
This means Th = 2.292. i.e. Th/L = 2.292/(2 10-3)= 1146 cm-1.
1
cosh Th 1
a) Concentration of reactant at Z = L/3 is given by
CA
3
C AS cosh Th
cosh 2Th cosh 1.528
3 0.4827 . i.e. concentration at Z = L/3 is roughly half the
cosh Th cosh 2.292
concentration on the pore mouth.
tanh Th
b) Effectiveness factor = . If this is to be 0.9, then mL must be 0.584. Since ‘Th/L’
Th
is 1146 cm-1, L should be 5×10-4 cm. and the pore length (2L) must be 1×10-3 cm, i.e. 4
times smaller than the original pore length.
Note that we have not used the concentration at the pore mouth or the diffusion coefficient.