Talk:Chemical reactor

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[edit] CSTR meaning

The article says it stands for "continuously-stirred tank reactor". I have seen this definition in several places, including text books, but I think it is incorrect. I think, rather, it should be, and originally was, "continuous stirred-tank reactor". It is continuous because it has both continuous input and output streams, as opposed to a batch stirred-tank reactor, which has no continuous output stream. "Continuously-stirred" seems superflous, as I've never heard of an intermittently-stirred reactor. But as I said, I've seen the "continuously" form in several other sources. Does anyone object to adding both meanings to the article?

I agree with the "continuous stirred-tank reactor" description as the continuous modifier means that the process is continuous as apposed to batch. I have never heard of a intermittently-stirred reactor; this would put holes in the assumption of prefect mixing and the derived mathematical models would no longer hold. I DO OBJECT to having both descriptions as one is misleading, even though it is in some published academic literature. — BeastRHIT B.S. Chemcial Engineering 2004

I also agree. As a Spanish-speaking chemical engineer with a PhD from an English-speaking university, I really never paid attention to this difference, but I realize "continuous" should be the correct term. --Doctor C 01:50, 9 August 2006 (UTC)

I agree with these comments. The term CSTR is confusing. The term CSTR has been variously used to describe tank reactors (I have been guilty of this myself), continuosly fed tank reactors and multi stage tank reactors. As someone else pointed out, the work 'stirred' is somewhat superfluous since stirred is the normal case (unstirred tank reactors are the exception). Life would be less confusing if we could use terms like 'tank reactors' (TR), 'continuous tank reactors' (CTR) and 'multi stage continous tank reactors' (MCTR). RA May 2006

[edit] Residence Time

Why is it that the Natural Resource Management concept of residence time, which conceptualises the idea of rate relative to reservoirs, is redirected to this page? GreatMizuti 17:30, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

Anyone is free to create a disambiguation page for NRM and chemical engineering definitions. --Vuo 12:40, 25 August 2006 (UTC)

There is no difference between usage of the term among different fields, just differences in how the quantity is estimated/measured, which are of course particular to the process in question. Residence time is no longer a redirect to this page. Daniel Collins 18:11, 7 September 2006 (UTC)