Nonequilibrium chemical instabilities in continuous flow stirred tank reactors: The effect of stirring

Abstract

We present a stochastic model for stirred chemical reactors. In the limiting case of practical interest, i.e., fast stirring, we solve for the characteristic function in steady state and derive expressions for the stationary moments through a perturbation expansion. Moments are explicitly calculated for a generic model of bistable behavior. We find that stirring decreases the area of the bistable region essentially by changing the point of transition from the high reaction rate state to the low reaction rate state. This is in remarkable agreement with the experimental findings of Roux, et al. Our results indicate that stirring should not be considered simply as an ‘‘enhanced diffusion’’ process and that nucleation plays only a minor role in transitions between multiple steady states in a continuous flow stirred tank reactor (CSTR).