Determining Reaction Rate
and Order of Reaction
An example of Using the Excel
Solver function by:
Vanadium Sigma
Determining Reaction Rate
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Common chemical engineering task
Work performed in a batch reactor
Samples drawn off at set time points
Samples analyzed for concentration data
(alpha)
General form: ra = kCa
Example: Background
• You are an engineer
making product P
from a reaction:
A P
• You know the
reaction is not first
order
• Your intern has
collected data from a
batch reaction
Time (s)
Ca (mM)
0
50
50
38
100
30.6
150
25.6
200
22.2
250
19.5
300
17.4
Example: Setup
Example: Solver
Example: Solver
Example: Solution
Summary
• Determining reaction rate is important to
model chemical reactions
• Excel solver can be used to accurately
model the reaction rate for a simple
reaction engineering problem
• The sum of squared residuals between
experimental and model data was
minimized