Question

3. The primary chemical reaction in the synthesis is bimolecular second order. (a) Show by mass balance, that the reaction time for this chemical reaction can be represented as: kCao dx (Co-) where t, is the batch reaction time, the number of moles of reagent converted to product, k is the reaction rate constants for the forward and reverse reactions respectively, CA the concentration of material A (similarly for B) and the suffix 0 and t represent the start and end time of the batch reaction. [5 marks] (b) Given the conditions for the primary reaction outlined previously and the second order rate constant for the reaction is k = 2.47 x10* m' mol'' si'. Calculate the time required (in hours) to achieve 90% conversion. [15 marks] (c) Is this a sensible reaction time? How might the reaction time be improved? [5 marks]