Calculation method of chemical kinetics to search the optimal experimental conditions in a micro flow reactor

Abstract

In recent years, the micro flow reactor, which takes the place of a batch reactor, is remarkable. The flow reactor is used to synthesize products heated by microwaves in a micro tube. The yield of products is increased by providing the micro flow reactor with the suitable experimental conditions. However, it is hard to set the optimal experimental conditions. A small difference in the experimental conditions can significantly change the result because the channel has a micro size. Therefore, it requires a lot of experimental time and cost to determine the adequate conditions. The purpose of this study is estimation of kinetic parameters to find out the optimum condition. The parameters were determined from experimental results under a variable temperature condition. The model of the variable temperature experiment was created using the following three kinetic relations: the reactor design equation, the rate equation and the Arrhenius equation. The model results were fitted with the real experimental data to estimate the kinetic parameters. Consequently, the kinetic parameters were calculated by curve fitting using the experimental data obtained at different flow rates (Fig. 1). It requires a lower cost to calculate the proper kinetic parameters than the traditional method using the Arrhenius plot (Table 1). The more experiments we examined at various flow rates, better results were obtained.