Continuous Stirred Tank Reactors

A continuous stirred tank reactor (CSTR) is a continuous reactor that runs at a steady state. They are used most frequently with liquid phases, but can handle gas or solid reactions as well. No matter what the reactants are or the product is, all CSTR's have the same components. There is an inlet stream(s) that bring all of the reactants in at a particular rate. This stream(s) dumps into a large container; there is a shaft with a blade attached (stirrer) in the reactor that rotates around to mix the reactants. A continuous stirred tank reactor (CSTR) is a continuous reactor that runs at a steady state. They are used most frequently with liquid phases, but can handle gas or solid reactions as well. No matter what the reactants are or the product is, all CSTR's have the same components. There is an inlet stream(s) that bring all of the reactants in at a particular rate. This stream(s) dumps into a large container; there is a shaft with a blade attached (stirrer) in the reactor that rotates around to mix the reactants. Finally there is an outlet stream, which the solution will exit from the reactor. The rates of the inlet and outlet streams must be carefully calculated in order to keep the volume inside the tank to stay the same. If this calculation is wrong, there is a great danger that the reactor will overflow, or not have enough solution in it.…