Ziele und Probleme der chemischen Reaktionstechnik

Abstract

Chemical Reaction Engineering is one of the youngest branches of chemical engineering in general.
It aims at controlling the chemical conversions on a technical scale and at developing the scientific methods for successful reactor design.
The whole field of interest may be divided into two main chapters:

the basic knowledge and
the application thereof on the behaviour of reactors. 

A survey is given of the present status of the basic knowledge. This consists of reaction dynamics on the one hand and transport dynamics on the other. Most important are the interrelations and interactions of these two.
Models play an important part:

kinetic models on the one hand,
transfer and residence time models on the other. 

In the applications of the basic knowledge on reactor behaviour, one may distinguish: static behaviour, dynamic behaviour and economic control. In the latter field the problem of selectivity of chemical conversions is discussed. With the aid of selectivity diagrams the influence of the numerous reaction parameters is explained and illustrated with practical examples.