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Plug Flow Reactor Simulation

(by Claude Sonnet 4, see prompt & comment below, 6/18/2025)

Ready to Start
Reactor Volume
1,000 L
Residence Time
20 seconds
Target Conversion
90%
Simulation Time
0 s

Reactor Visualization

Inlet (Clear Solvent ± Blue Reactant) Outlet (Red Product + Unreacted Blue)
Reactant Concentration
Product Concentration

Comment: This PFR simulation took quite a few prompts to get it to where I was satisfied. Only the first of seven prompts is shown here. I guess this was to be expected since there is a spatial dimension with the PFR as well as a time dimension, whereas time is the only dimension involved with a well-mixed batch reactor.
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Prompt: make a simulation of a chemical plug flow reactor. Have 3 buttons: start reactant feed, stop reactant feed, clear reactor of reactant and product. A clear liquid solvent with no reactant flows constantly through a 1,000 liter reactor tube such that the solvent liquid residence time in the reactor is 20 seconds. When the user clicks the start button, a blue reactant starts flowing into the reactor and starts reacting gradually to form a red product at a rate that is proportional to the local reactant concentration. The conversion of reactant is 90% when it reaches the end of the reactor after flowing for 20 seconds. plot the concentration of reactant with a blue line and the concentration of product with a red line versus the reactor volume and update the plot every 0.25 seconds.