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Chemical Engineering vocabulary · Reactions and Reactors

Reactor

Meaning in chemical engineering, with examples

/riˈæktər/nounCore term

In chemical engineering, reactor means: A vessel or piece of equipment where a chemical reaction is carried out under controlled temperature, pressure and mixing.

In Turkish: reaktör, tepkime kabı

How it is used

Central to every chemical plant. You charge, heat, cool, pressurize and empty a reactor. Common types are batch reactors, stirred tanks (CSTR), tubular or plug flow reactors and fixed-bed catalytic reactors.

Example sentences

  1. We charged the reactor with 2 tonnes of monomer and heated it to 80 °C.

  2. The reactor temperature rose too quickly, so the operator cut the feed.

Common collocations

  • batch reactor
  • jacketed reactor
  • fixed-bed reactor
  • charge the reactor
  • reactor temperature
  • CSTRShort for continuous stirred-tank reactor: a tank with a mixer where feed flows in and product flows out all the time, and the contents are assumed to be perfectly mixed.
  • plug flow reactorAn ideal tube reactor in which the fluid moves forward like a series of thin slices with no mixing along the length, so the composition changes from inlet to outlet.
  • catalystA substance that makes a reaction go faster, or more selectively, without being used up itself. In industry it is often a solid in pellets placed in a reactor bed.
  • residence timeThe average time that material spends inside a vessel or reactor, found for a simple case by dividing the volume by the volumetric flow rate.
  • jacketAn outer shell around a reactor or vessel through which steam, hot oil or cooling water flows to heat or cool the contents.

More terms: Reactions and Reactors

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