Real-Time Monitoring of Residence Time in a Continuous Reactor Using Tracers and MATLAB

Abstract

The determination of residence time distribution (RTD) is essential for optimizing chemical processes, as it influences reactant conversion, product selectivity, and the overall efficiency of the reactor. This study focuses on the characterization of the RTD in a laboratory-scale vertical plug flow reactor, using a dye tracer and a real-time data acquisition system. An experimental setup was implemented that includes a peristaltic pump, an LDR light sensor, an Arduino UNO, and an application developed in MATLAB App Designer for data collection and analysis. The results indicate that increasing the flow rate reduces the average residence time, and the use of the Weibull distribution was validated to model the non-ideal behavior of the reactor. This work not only contributes to the characterization of non-ideal reactors but also provides an educational platform that allows students to replicate the experiment and analyze data in real time, highlighting the usefulness of modern tools in teaching key concepts in chemical engineering.