The Acid_Hydrolysis_Reactor is a totally mixed semi-batch reactor equipment which simulates the hydrolysis of Cellulose and/or Hemicellulose polysaccharides in diluted strong acid catalysis. The heat required is supplied by steam in the heating jacket space. The equipment allows back-calculation of the necessary acid, make up water and steam requirement. The process is considered to be continuous related to inputs and outputs.

The main reactants are dissolved Cellulose (HCz) as hexozan polymer and Hemicellulose (HHc) as mixture of pentozans and hexozans polimer which will be transformed in hydrolysis products with the input fractional mass conversion (Amount reacted fields). The mixture of Cellulose and Hemicellulose is called Holocellulose. Cellulose will be transformed only into Glucose, 5-Hydroxymethyl-2-Furfuraldehyde and Decomposition products. The hydrolysis sugar products of Hemicellulose are: Glucose, Mannose, Galactose, Rhamnose (C6), Xylose and Arabinose (C5). Other significant products are Furfural from the decomposition of pentozans, 5-Hydroxymethyl-2-Furfuraldehyde from the decomposition of hexozans, Acetic acid and Uronic acids mainly from the side chains of the polysaccharides like glucuronoxylan. The Uronic acids are all treated as their main representative 4-O-Methyl-Glucuronic Acid. Decomposition products of hemicellulose are also present. The decomposition products are treated as Dissolved organics (HOr(aq)) in the outlet liquor stream and takes also into account the other by products of the hydrolysis. Individual pentozans and hexozans possibly present in the liquor inlet stream are treated like Hemicellulose, being transformed with the same fractional mass conversion in the corresponding monomer sugar and the other specified products. Glucan and Starch goes to Glucose, Mannan to Mannose, Galactan to Galactose, Rhamnan to Rhamnose, Xylan to Xylose, Arabinan to Arabinose.

The Heat of reaction may be input for each of the considered reactions in the fields form the right column on the Data form. The outlet temperature and pressure of the liquor stream can be input in the Thermal conditions frame. The default value of the Outlet Tempereature is 355 F, but this may be changed. If the Outlet pressure field is left empty, the pressure of the outlet liquor stream will be set at the minimum value of the inlet streams pressure. The Heat loss fraction represents the fraction of the total input heat with the steam and inlet streams lost to the environment. The equipment allow an input for the Steam pressure drop across the heating jacket.

The input Acid flow to Holocellulose fraction will return the total acid flow. The equipment will take into account all the water input with the three steams and will estimate the amount of water needed for hydrolysis and total dissociation of the inlet acids. If supplementary water is required it will be back calculated on the Make up water Stream. The resulting initial pH at 77 F (25 C) and 1 atm will be calculated and displayed in the Calculated Data tab. The initial acid concentration - considering only the total water and the total acid (without other species) will be also displayed in the Calculated Data tab. If an initial pH control is desired, please select the checkbox Initial pH @ 77F (25 C). In this case the acid is calculated from the Acid to Holocellulose fraction and the pH will be adjusted with supplementary Make up water. The reactions will be performed in a following step.

All the streams should be attached to the connectors: Liquor_In, Liquor_Out an the utilities streams Acid_In, Make_Up_Water, Steam_In, Condensate_Out.

The reactant material should be supplied on the Liquor_In stream in liquid phase, the Make_Up_Water stream should contain only liquid water and the Acid_In stream should contain un-dissociated commercial strong mineral acid (Sulfuric, Hydrochloric and/or Nitric Acid) mixed with water in liquid phase.

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Data		Unit		Description
Set	Item	Type	Native	Description
Equipment Properties	Reactant(n)			Reactant(n) is the n'th reacting component. Components are Cellulose as Hexozan and Hemicellulose as Pentozans and Hexozans. Other individual polymer sugars as Glucan, Mannan, Galactan, Rhamnan, Starch (Hexozans), Xylan, Arabinan (Pentozans) fom the inlet stream will be hydrolized as the appropriate Hexozan or Pentozan from the Hemicellulose with the same FracReacted.
	FracReacted(n)	Fraction or Percent	Fraction	FracReacted(n) is the mass fraction of the Reactant(n) converted to products.
	Product(n)			Product(n) is then n'th product component.
	HR(n)	Enthalpy	BTU/lb	HR(n) is the amount of energy gained (or lost) during the n'th reaction.
	OptionAcid			OptionAcid is the stored selection for the initial calculation of the acid content. Selection can be Acid to Holocellulose mass fraction (default) only or with Initial pH.
	InitialpH			InitialpH is the set pH value for the initial reaction mixture at 77 F and 0 psig. Default value 1.5.
	AcidFraction	Fraction or Percent	Fraction	AcidFraction is the ratio of the Acid mass flow to the (Cellulose +Hemicellulose=Holocellulose) mass flow from the inlet stream. Default fraction value 0.04.
	OutletTemperature	Temperature	F	Temperature of reaction and of the outlet stream. Default value is 355 F (179.44 C)
	OutletPressure	Pressure	psia	Pressure in the vessel and on the outlet stream. Default value is 0 psig (1 atm)
	HeatLossFraction	Fraction or Percent	Fraction	HeatLossFraction represents the fraction of the total input heat that will be lost.
	SteamPressureDrop	Pressure Change	psi	PressureDrop is the shell (steam) side pressure drop. Default value is 0.0 psi.
	SumFracReactedHemi			Stores the sum of the total FracReacted of Hemicellulose.
	SumFracReactedHemi			Stores the sum of the total FracReacted of Cellulose.
Calculated Properties	HemiToSugarsFraction	Fraction or Percent	Fraction	HemiToSugarsFraction is the fraction of Hemicellulose converted to total sugars (Pentozans and Hexozans converted to Hexoses and Pentoses)
	CalculatedpH			CalculatedpH is the initial pH @ 77 F (25 C) and 0 psig of the initial mixture. It is a calculated value if the corresponding check box is not selected and the reached value if the check box is selected and the text box contain a valid value.
	CalculatedAcidFraction	Fraction or Percent	Fraction	CalculatedAcidFraction (wt) represents the ratio of the Acid inlet mass flow to the total inlet mass flow of Cellulose and Hemicellulose.
	AcidToLiquorFraction	Pressure Change	psi	AcidToLiquorFraction is the ratio of the calculated acid mass flow to the total mass flow of the input liquor.
	HeatDuty	Energy Flow	kcal/hr	HeatDuty is the heat amount required to heat the total mixture up to the Reaction and Outlet Temperature. The input heat of reactions contributions will be taken into account. The heat of dillution/dissociation of the acid will not be taken into account. This will be used to calculate the amount of steam required at the steam inlet conditions.

Equipment Properties

Acid Hydrolysis Reactor tab specifies the main input data for the equipment.
Reactant labels states the two main polysaccharides from the Liquor inlet stream that will be hydrolyzed: Cellulose and Hemicellulose in dissolved forms. Their mixture is called Holocellulose. Solid Cellulose (Cz) will follow the same processes as the dissolved Cellulose with the same fraction of Amount reacted. Solid Hemicellulose (Hc) will follow the same processes as the dissolved Hemicellulose with the same fraction of amount reacted. Individual pentozans and hexozans will be treated as Hemicellulose.
Amount reacted mandatory dialog boxes represent the fraction of the reactant that will be converted to the products listed in the Product labels. The equipment may perform only Hemicellulose hydrolysis by putting in 0 or leaving blank the corresponding Cellulose dialog boxes. The equipment may perform only Cellulose hydrolysis by putting in 0 or leaving blank the corresponding Hemicellulose dialog boxes.
Product labels represent the list of the hydrolysis products in diluted acid catalysis.
Heat of reaction mandatory dialog boxes represent the specific heat generated per pound of transformed reactant. If the value will be input with negative sign, the specific heat is consumed during the reaction.
Acid flow to Hollocellulose fraction mandatory dialog box represents the ratio of the acid stream flow to the total inlet flow of cellulose and Hemicellulose together.
Initial pH @ 77 F (25 C) mandatory dialog box represents the target initial pH value at 77 F and 0 psig. The dialog box is enabled when the check box is selected. The initial pH control will affect the Make up water flow and the heat duty.
Outlet Temperature mandatory dialog box represents the temperature of the Liquor outlet stream. It is also the process temperature and will mainly affect the Steam inlet flow. If the input value is lower than that resulting from mixing the three inlet streams, the Liquor outlet stream will take the resulting temperature of the mixture. The default value is 355 F.
Outlet Pressure mandatory dialog box represents the pressure of the Liquor outlet stream. Leaving the box blank the Liquor outlet stream will take the minimum of the three inlet streams.
Heat Loss mandatory dialog box represents the total heat loss of the column as fraction of the total input heat.
Steam pressure drop mandatory dialog box represents the pressure drop across the heating jacket.

Calculated Data tab specifies the output data for the equipment.
Fraction of Hemicellulose converted to total sugars is the ratio of sugars flow to total flow in the Liquor outlet stream.
Calculated initial pH @ 77 F (25 C) and 0 psig represents the pH value of the initial mixture. It is a calculated value if the corresponding check box is not selected and the reached value if the check box is selected and the text box contain a valid value.
Calculated Acid to Holocellulose fraction (wt) represents the ratio of the Acid inlet mass flow to the total inlet mass flow of Cellulose and Hemicellulose.
Acid flow to Liquuor_Inlet fraction (wt) is the ratio of the calculated acid mass flow to the total mass flow of the inlet Liquor.
Initial acid % concentration is the weight percent of a hypothetical mixture of cumulated acid and water from all the three inlet streams before the reactants and inert are added.
Total sugars concentration in outlet stream represents the mass concentration of the resulting sugars in the outlet mixture.
Heat duty represents the external heat flow required for the process.
Heat loss is the heat flow lost in the environment.

Example of using equipment

Method&Equations

The Acid Hydrolysis Reactor determines the outlet flow rate of the products and reactants as:

PRD_OUT = PRD_IN + RCT_IN * Conversion_FRAC

where:

PRD_OUT is the mass flow of the product in the outlet

PRD_IN is the mass flow of the product in the inlet

RCT_IN is the mass flow of the reactant in the inlet

RCT_OUT is the mass flow of the reactant in the outlet

Conversion_FRAC is the fraction of inlet reactant converted to products

Acid flow to Holocellulose fraction

Acid_to_Holocellulose_Fraction = Acid_In / ( Total_as_Cellulose + Toatal_as_Hemicellulose)

where:

Acid_In is the total mass flow of the inlet acid

Total_as_Cellulose is the total flow of reactant species which will react as Cellulose (Dissolved and/or solid Cellulose as hexozans)

Total_as_Hemicellulose is the total flow of reactant species which will react as Hemicellulose (Dissolved and/or solid Hemicellulose as mixture of hexozans and pentozans,

individual hexozans like Starch, Glucan, Galactan, Mannan, Rhamnan and/or individual pentozans like Xylan and Arabinan)

Holocellulose = Total_as_Cellulose + Toatal_as_Hemicellulose

Total sugars weight concentration in the outlet Liquor stream:

Total_Sugars_Out_Fraction = Total_Sugars_Out / Liquor_Out

where:

Total_Sugars_Out_Fraction is the fraction of total sugars in the Liquor outlet mass flow

Total_Sugars_Out is the total flow of oultet sugars (Glucose, Galactose, Mannose, Rhamnose (C6) and Xylose, Arabinose (C5))

Liquor_Out is the total outlet Liquor mass flow

Initial acid concentration:

Initial_Acid_Concentration = Pure_Acid_In / (Total_Water_In + Pure_Acid_In)

where:

Pure_Acid_In is the total flow of pure inlet acid. Inlet acid supported by the equipment are mineral strong acids Sulfuric Acid, Hydrochloric Acid and/or Nitric Acid.

Total_Water_In is the total flow of inlet water