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Semi-Analytical Solutions For One - And Two-Dimensional Pellet Problems., Tim Marchant

Tim Marchant

The problem of heat and mass transfer within a porous catalytic pellet in which an irreversible first–order exothermic reaction occurs is a much–studied problem in chemical–reactor engineering. The system is described by two coupled reaction–diffusion equations for the temperature and the degree of reactant conversion. The Galerkin method is used to obtain a semi–analytical model for the pellet problem with both one– and two–dimensional slab geometries. This involves approximating the spatial structure of the temperature and reactant–conversion profiles in the pellet using trial functions. The semi–analytical model is obtained by averaging the governing partial differential equations. As the Arrhenius law …