10.

37 Spring 2007 Homework 1

Due Wednesday, Feb. 14.

Problem 1. Airbags contain a mixture of NaN3, NaNO3, and SiO2. When the vehicle is in a crash, the

following reactions are initiated:

2 NaN3 Æ 2 Na + 3 N2

10 Na + 2 NaNO3 Æ N2 + 6 Na2O

Na2O + 10 SiO2 Æ glass

a) If 150 g of NaN3 are used in an airbag, how many grams of NaNO3 and SiO2 must be included so that all
of the sodium in the system can be safely sequestered as glass? Note the sodium-containing compounds
NaN3, Na, and Na2O are all dangerous and toxic.

b) The most important species for airbag performance in a crash are NaN3 and N2, so there are two obvious
definitions of conversion:

XNaN3 = (moles NaN3 reacted)/(initial moles NaN3)

and

XN2 = (moles of N2)/(total moles of N2 when all reactions are completed).

What units do XNaN3 and XN2 have? Does XNaN3 equal XN2? If not, how different could they be?

There are three other related quantities, ξ1, ξ2, and ξ3, the extents of reactions 1,2, and 3. Note that each ξ

has units of moles. Write algebraic equations for each X in terms of the ξ‘s.

c) Suppose that reaction 1 has a rate expression r1=k1/V (this reaction proceeds at a steady rate as a reaction
front moves through the solid NaN3), reaction 2 has a rate expression r2=k2[Na][NaNO3], and reaction 3 has
a rate expression r3=k3[Na2O]/V.

By the convention used in this course, all the r’s have units of moles/second/liter. Write rN2, the rate of

production of N2 per unit volume, in terms of r1, r2, and r3.

Write the equations for rate of change of the number of moles, dni/dt, for all the chemical species (i=N2,

NaN3, Na, NaNO3, Na2O, SiO2, glass).

d) Of course the volume of the airbag, V, is dramatically changing during the course of the reaction due to
the creation of a gas, N2, inside the bag. If the bag can expand fast enough to so that the pressure inside the
bag is similar to the pressure outside the bag, by the ideal gas law one would expect:

V = Vo + VN * nN2

and under this condition the bag would expand depending on the rate at which gas is created:

dV/dt = VN * dnN2/dt

where VN is the molar volume of a gas at atmospheric pressure (~22 liter/mole) and nN2 is the number of

moles of N2 in the airbag. The initial volume of the airbag Vo ~70 cm3.

However there is a physical limit on how fast the airbag can expand. When an airbag is expanded by gas

pressure, the radius of the bag cannot grow faster than the speed of pressure fronts in the gas,

approximately the speed of sound:

dR/dt < csound

csound ~ 300 m/s in air.

Cite as: William Green, Jr., and K. Dane Wittrup, course materials for 10.37 Chemical and Biological Reaction
Engineering, Spring 2007. MIT OpenCourseWare (http://ocw.mit.edu), Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Downloaded on [DD Month YYYY].
 so there is an upper bound on how fast the airbag can grow; for a spherical airbag:

dV/dt = 4π R2 dR/dt
so dV/dt < 4π (3V/4π)2/3 csound = (36πV2)1/3csound

So a reasonable approach to model this numerically is

if (V<Vo + VN*nN2)
dV/dt = (36πV2)1/3csound
else
dV/dt = VN * dnN2/dt
endif

Using a numerical ODE solver in Matlab, solve the coupled system of differential equations for the n’s and
V. Take k1~103 moles/s, k2~106 liter/mole-s, k3~105 liter/s. Make and turn in a plot of XN2 vs. time, ξ3 vs.
time, and volume vs. time for the first 10 milliseconds of operation. Also, make and turn in a plot of
volume vs. time for just the first 0.1 milliseconds of operation. Does the volume vs. time behavior make
physical sense? If not, go back and modify your Matlab program to fix the non-physical dV/dt behavior.
Submit your Matlab program(s) to the 10.37 course website.

Problem 1 Solution

a)
(2 NaN3 Æ 2 Na + 3 N2)÷2 → NaN3 Æ Na + 3/2 N2
(10 Na + 2 NaNO3 Æ N2 + 6 Na2O)÷10 → Na + 1/5 NaNO3 Æ 1/10N2 + 6/10 Na2O
(Na2O + 10 SiO2 Æ glass)x6/10 → 6/10Na2O + 6SiO2 Æ 6/10glass

Net reaction w/all Na safely sequestered as glass: NaN3 + 1/5NaNO3 + 6SiO2 Æ 8/5N2 + 3/5 glass
1mol
n NaN3 ,o = 150g = 2.3mol
65g
1mol NaNO3 2.3 85g
n NaNO3 ,o = n NaN 3 ,o ⋅ = mol = 0.46mol or m NaNO3 ,o = 0.46mol = 39g
5mol NaN 3 5 1mol
6mol SiO2 60g
n SiO2 ,o = n NaN 3 ,o ⋅ = 6 ⋅ 2.3mol = 13.8mol or mSiO2 ,o = 13.8mol = 830g
1mol NaN 3 1mol

b) XNaN3 and XN2 are dimensionless. XNaN3 does not equal XN2 during the reaction.

2ξ1 nN2 3ξ1 + ξ 2

5
2ξ1 3ξ1 + ξ 2 ξ − 5ξ 2
X NaN 3 − X N 2 = − = 1
n NaN 3 ,o 8
n NaN 3 ,o 8n NaN 3 ,o
5
The difference between XNaN3 and XN2 will be determined by the kinetics of r1 and r2 (i.e.
the rate of change of ξ1 compared to ξ2).

Cite as: William Green, Jr., and K. Dane Wittrup, course materials for 10.37 Chemical and Biological Reaction
Engineering, Spring 2007. MIT OpenCourseWare (http://ocw.mit.edu), Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Downloaded on [DD Month YYYY].
 c) For no flows in/out and assuming a homogeneous reaction:
dn A dξi
dt
= ∑ν
i
A,i
dt
= ∑ν
i
A,i riV Can report dni/dt using extents or reaction rates

Species mol balance dni/dt (using extents) dni/dt (using reaction rates)
NaN3 nNaN3 = nNaN3,o - 2ξ1 dn NaN 3 dξ1 dn NaN 3
= −2 = −2r1V
dt dt dt
NaNO3 nNaNO3 = nNaNO3,o - 2ξ2 dn NaNO3 dξ dn NaNO
= −2 2 3
= − 2 r2V
dt dt dt
SiO2 nSiO2 = nSiO2,o - 10ξ3 dn SiO2 dξ 3 dn SiO 2
= −10 = − 10 r3V
dt dt dt
Na nNa = 2ξ1 - 10ξ2 dn Na dξ dξ dn Na
= 2 1 − 10 2 = (2r1 − 10r2 )V
dt dt dt dt
N2 nN2 = 3ξ1 + ξ2 dn N 2 dξ1 dξ 2 dn N 2
=3 + = (3r1 + r2 )V
dt dt dt dt
Na2O nNa2O = 6ξ2 − ξ3 dn Na2O dξ 2 dξ 3 dn Na2O
=6 − = (6r2 − r3 )V
dt dt dt dt
Glass nglass = ξ3 dn glass dξ 3 dn glass
= = r3V
dt dt dt
Rate of production of N2: rN 2 = 3⋅ r1 + r2

d) See the Matlab solution provided. Plots showing XN2 vs. time, ξ3 vs. time, and
volume vs. time are copied below.

Cite as: William Green, Jr., and K. Dane Wittrup, course materials for 10.37 Chemical and Biological Reaction
Engineering, Spring 2007. MIT OpenCourseWare (http://ocw.mit.edu), Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Downloaded on [DD Month YYYY].
 Problem 2. One of the students in this class recently measured the reaction of vinyl radical (C2H3) with
ethene (C2H4), a reaction important in flames, pyrolysis, and polymerization reactors. Vinyl radical absorbs
purple light, so the amount of light absorbed is proportional to the concentration of the vinyl radical. In
each experiment the student measured the time variation in the amount of purple light passing through his
constant volume sample using a photodetector. The voltage signal from the photodetector is linearly related
to the absorbance, which is proportional to [C2H3], so

Signal(t) = b + m[C2H3](t) Eq. (1)

where b is an uninteresting number related to how well the electronics baseline was zeroed out before each
experiment.

He performed similar experiments many times, each time with different initial concentrations of ethene in
the sample. From these experiments, he extracted the rate constant “k” at various temps and pressures.

The reaction of interest is:

-rC2H3=(k0 + k[C2H4])[C2H3] (Eq. 2)

k0 accounts for all other first-order loss processes of C2H3 in the experiment (e.g. unimolecular reaction).
Because the initial concentration of C2H3 is much smaller than the concentration of C2H4, it is reasonable to
assume that the concentration of C2H4 does not vary significantly during each experiment. Therefore one
expects a simple exponential decay of [C2H3]:

[C2H3] = [C2H3]o e-t/τ (Eq. 3)

a) Write out the algebraic relationship between τ and k. Fit the measured signal for the nth experiment Sn
to this form:

Sn(t) = Bn + An exp(-t/τn) (Eq. 4)

Give expressions for An, Bn, and τn in terms of b, m, [C2H3]o, k0, k, and [C2H4]0,n. Which of the three fit
parameters An, Bn, and τn depends on k and [C2H4]0 ?

b) Use Matlab to plot 1/τn vs. [C2H4]n, where τn is the exponential decay time constant determined by
fitting the data from the nth experiment. How can you use this plot to determine the rate constant “k”?

Your assignment is to compute the rate constant “k” for the reaction of interest from the student’s data,
contained in files vinylethene1, vinylethene2, and vinylethene3 on the 10.37 course website. In each file the
first column is the time in seconds, and the second column is the measured signal Sn. The first dataset is for
[C2H4]=6.7x10-4 M, the second for [C2H4]=4x10-4 M and the third for [C2H4]=1.33x10-4 M.

Turn in the value of “k” you derived from modeling the student’s experimental data (don’t forget to specify
the units of “k”!), and also turn in plots comparing your model predictions using this “k” with the
experimental data. Submit your Matlab program(s) to the 10.37 course website.

N.B. Notice that in this type of “pseudo-first-order” experiment, one can determine “k” without knowing
[C2H3]o, the calibration constant “m” relating the signal to [C2H3], what the products of the reaction are, nor
what the competing reactions are (that contribute to r0). Because of these simplifications, this type of
experiment is very widely use’d to determine rate constants.

Cite as: William Green, Jr., and K. Dane Wittrup, course materials for 10.37 Chemical and Biological Reaction
Engineering, Spring 2007. MIT OpenCourseWare (http://ocw.mit.edu), Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Downloaded on [DD Month YYYY].
 Problem 2 Solution
d [C2 H 3 ]
a) − rC2 H 3 = − Eq 5
dt
Substitute Eq 3 into Eq 5
− rC2 H 3 = −
d [C 2 H 3 ]
=−
(
d [C 2 H 3 ]o e −t τ ) 1
= [C 2 H 3 ]o  e −t τ Eq 6
dt dt τ 
Substitute Eq 3 into Eq 2:
− rC2 H 3 = (k 0 + k [C 2 H 4 ])[C 2 H 3 ] = (k 0 + k [C 2 H 4 ])[C 2 H 3 ]o e − t τ Eq 7
Set Eq 6 = Eq 7 and simplify:

[C 2 H 3 ]o  1 e −t τ = (k 0 + k [C 2 H 4 ]o )[C 2 H 3 ]o e −t τ → τ= Eq 8
τ  k 0 + k [C 2 H 4 ]o
algebraic relationship between τ and k

Substitute Eq 3 into Eq 1:
S (t ) = b + m[C 2 H 3 ](t ) = b + m[C 2 H 3 ]o e − t τ Eq 9

Substitute Eq 8 into Eq 9:

−t
 1 
 
 k + k [C H ] 
S (t ) = b + m[C 2 H 3 ]o e −t τ
= b + m[C 2 H 3 ]o e  0 2 4 o  Eq 10
Compare Eq 10 and Eq 4 to define:

Bn = b An = m[C2 H 3 ]o
τn =
k 0 + k [C2 H 4 ]o,n

Only τn depends on k and [C2H4]o,n.

b) See the Matlab solution provided. To determine k, fit 1/τn vs. [C2H4]o,n to a straight
line. Slope = k (L/mol-s), y-intercept = k0 (1/s). Figures from Matlab are copied below.

k=1.11x107 L/mol-s

Cite as: William Green, Jr., and K. Dane Wittrup, course materials for 10.37 Chemical and Biological Reaction
Engineering, Spring 2007. MIT OpenCourseWare (http://ocw.mit.edu), Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Downloaded on [DD Month YYYY].
Cite as: William Green, Jr., and K. Dane Wittrup, course materials for 10.37 Chemical and Biological Reaction
Engineering, Spring 2007. MIT OpenCourseWare (http://ocw.mit.edu), Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Downloaded on [DD Month YYYY].