Technical Definition:

Continuous Stirred Tank Reactor

A.K.A:

CSTR

Anthony Rivas
8973-9361
a.rivas@ufl.edu
Professional Writing

A Continuous Stirred Tank Reactor, A.K.A CSTR, is a type of mixer used in large scale chemical
plants. The CSTR is important because in every automation process, we need to reduce as many
variables as we can, and with the CSTR, we can make some very important assumptions about
the chemical mixing process within. The definition is easiest explained through an expanded
definition of each of its words and an example of the use of a CSTR. If we break down the word
Continuous Stirred Tank Reactor, we will be able to understand it better.

[Fig.1] CSTR with a cooling jacket for exothermic reactions

Reactor: There is a chemical change taking place within the contents of the tank. These chemical
changes can be easily expressed in the form of an equation:
A + B => C
(Eq. 1)
Naturally, the chemical properties of the reactants, A and B, have been thoroughly studied and
their interactions have been measured to find the rate at which they react. This rate is dependent
on the concentration of the components A and B, such that;
rate,
k = Concentration of A * Concentration of B
The concentration of a reactant can be found by taking the amount of reactant in the tank and
dividing it by the total volume of the solution in the tank, V, such that:
Concentration of A,
CA = A/V
Where A is measured in moles of the reactant in the tank and V is measured in Liters of
combined A, B, and C.
Tank: A large metal container in which a reaction occurs. The sides shouldnt have any corrosion
and the inputs and outputs should be manufactured to whatever reaction is taking place. In the
case of a CSTR, a large metal rotating stirrer is mounted somewhere in the tank and the shaft is
connected to a motor outside of the tank. Tanks can be any shape but are normally elongated
cylinders so the area remains symmetric around the central axis of the stirring shaft.
Stirred: A CSTR is a very basic reactor model in which the contents of the reactor have the exact
same composition regardless of position in the reactor. This is very important because most

reactions in nature are reversible, even if only to a small degree. The rate of reaction is dependent
on the concentration of the reactants at the point of reaction, therefore, for non-mixed reactors,
there would have to be a calculation for the reaction rate at each point in the reactor, making
processes extremely unpredictable. Luckily, our CSTR model makes the correct and simple
assumption of complete mixing so we can use one equation for our reaction rate for the whole
tank. This also means that the concentration in the output stream is exactly the same to the
concentration anywhere in the tank. We remove the position variables of the product stream
which makes our model easier to solve. We can also now assume constant density within the tank
and output stream. Density is measured in grams per centimeter cubed and can be expressed by
R.

[Fig 2]

Continuous: The flow rate of the reactants into the tank is equal to the flow rate of the product
out of the tank. This is the key to automating processes. If we can have a constant flow rate of
reactants in and a matching flow rate of products out, the volume of the solution in the tank will
remain constant. This parameterization eliminates yet another variable of changing V over time.
This means that the rate of accumulation in our tank is zero. This indicates a Steady State
reaction. The flow rate can be expressed in kilograms of substance per hour.
With all these assumptions and equations, we can create a set of differential equations that
represent the concentration at any time, t, within the tank of any of the reactants.
Rate of Accumulation = Rate In - Rate Out + Generation Rate - Consumption Rate
This is one of the prime uses of CSTRs. In order to find our equations, we apply material
balances to our entire solution and the reactants within it.

[Fig.3]

Total Mass Balance:

The derivative with respect to time of the Mass is equivalent to the flow rate of the inlet streams
multiplied by the density of the inlet streams subtracted by the flow of the outlet stream
multiplied by the density of the outlet stream.
d/dt (V * R) = FIN * R - F * R
(Eq.2)
where FIN is the feed flow rate, F is the outlet flow rate, R is the density and V is the volume.
V * R is the Total Mass, FIN * R is the mass of the inlet streams, and F * R is the total mass of the
output stream. There is no generation or consumption of total mass so this is our entire equation.
We can apply our assumptions that we have a zero value for our rate of accumulation; d/dt (V *
R) = 0
This shows that our density of reactant in the solution is constant and the volume of the solution
in the tank remains constant throughout the time of the reaction. After applying our zero rate of
accumulation and dividing by our constant density, we get the equation,
FIN = F
Which shows that our flow rates in and out of the tank have to be equivalent to have a steady
state reaction. We can now apply our material balance to the reactants of the reaction.
Material Balance on A:
d/dt (V * CA) = F * CA.IN F * CA + 0 V * CA * CB * k
(Eq.3)
where V * CA is the total mass of A in the tank, F * CA.IN is the amount of A coming in the
feed, F * CA is the amount of A leaving in the output stream, 0 is the Generation rate of A
because no A is being created in this reaction, and V * CA * CB * k is the Consumption rate of
A in this reaction. The last element is just the rate constant, k, multiplied by the concentrations of
the reactants in the solution. This element is subtracted because it is the speed at which mass of A
is leaving the total solution and turning into product, C. Our total volume remains constant with
respect to time so we can remove V from inside the derivative and divide it by the other side of
our equation. This gives us
dCA/dt = F/V * (CA.IN CA) CA * CB * k
(Eq.4)

Material Balance on B:
The material balance of B is the exact same as A
dCB/dt = F/V * (CB.IN CB) CA * CB * k

(Eq.5)

Material Balance on C:
The generation rate of C is the same as the consumption rate of A
dCC/dt = 0 F/V * CC + CA * CB * k
(Eq.6)
Where 0 is the rate in of C because there is no element C in the feed streams, -F/V * CC is
the rate out of element C, and CA * CB * k is the generation rate of element C.
Initial Conditions:
At time, t = 0 second, we can assume that the entirety of the solution in the tank is made up of
the feed elements A and B. We can call the initial amounts of A and B in the tank CA0 and CB0,
respectively. Initially, there is no element C in the tank.
CA(t): CA(0) = CA0
CB(t): CB(0) = CB0
CC(t): CC(0) = 0
Complete Non-Linear Ordinary Differential Equation Model:
Using Equations 4, 5, and 6, and the initial conditions, we have all the parts necessary for our
model. We can now find the concentration of any of our elements at any time. In this case, our
model is nonlinear because we have two variables multiplied by each other. This model will be
appropriate for a computer to carry out.

[Fig.4] Simplified hand-drawn CSTR sketch using variable w as

flow rate

References
[Fig.1]
[Fig.2]
[Fig.3]

[Fig.4]

Wikipedia (2014, 7-17) Continuous stirred-tank reactor

Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continuous_stirred-tank_reactor
C.E. (2013, 5-29) Continuous Stirred Tank Reactors Working Animation
Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSjn7doP550
ESI Enviropro, Biobulk Continually Stirred Tank Reactor
Retrieved from http://www.enviropro.co.uk/entry/34047/Veolia-Water-Solutionsand-Technologies/Biobulk-continually-stirred-tank-reactor/
Using the NN Predictive Controller Block :: Control Systems
Retrieved from http://matlab.izmiran.ru/help/toolbox/nnet/contro6a.html