An irreversible, spontaneous and homogeneous reaction was researched at an ambient temperature of 22.7°C. The specific reaction is given in Equation 1. CH_3 COOCH_2 CH_3+ NaOH →CH_3 COONa+CH_3 CH_2 OH (1)
It is necessary to determine the reaction kinetics for the reaction in Equation 1. Reaction kinetics is an unavoidable stepping stone needed for reactor design and optimising these reactors to their full potential. It is a measurement of how quickly a reaction occurs. The rate of a reaction is directly proportional to the reactant concentrations and the temperature of the reactor. (Schaller)
The problem at hand is that the reaction kinetics is not known and need to be determined to understand the reaction more thoroughly. There is a hypothesis that the reaction kinetics is exactly the same for different types of reactors.
The purpose of
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This is given in Equation 15. (dC_A)/dV=r_A/Q (15) Conductivity
In the experiment the concentration of the mixture is measured by the means of a conductivity probe. The conductivity referred to in this case is electrical conductivity. This is the ability of ionised compounds to transfer electrical current in an aqueous solution. It is measured in units of mS/cm. (Heyda, 2006)
There are only two compounds present that exhibits a conductivity reading and that is sodium hydroxide and sodium acetate. In this case the sodium hydroxide gives a higher conductivity reading than sodium acetate. Therefor it is preferred to take all the concentration measurements with respect to sodium hydroxide.
The conductivity values can be used to calculate the conversion of sodium hydroxide. Sodium hydroxide is component B and due to the fact that conversion of B will be calculated, it is necessary to ensure that B is the limiting reagent.
The relationship between conductivity values and conversion is given in equation 15. x= (K_START-K)/(K_START-K_FINAL )