Two reagent streams (blue A, magenta B) meet at a T-mixer and travel
together through a coiled tube reactor sitting in a heated jacket.
Unlike a batch flask, every parcel of fluid spends almost exactly the
same time in the reactor — the residence time τ — so raising flow rate
shortens τ and lowers conversion unless you also raise temperature to
compensate. Faster flow also drives the regime from smooth laminar
streaks toward chaotic turbulent mixing, visible as the streams blend
sooner along the coil.
τ = V_reactor / Q (residence time)
Re = ρ·u·d / μ (laminar < ~2300 < turbulent)
Conversion ≈ 1 − exp(−k(T)·τ), k(T) = A·exp(−Eₐ/RT)
- Flow rate — volumetric throughput Q; higher Q scales up production but shortens τ.
- Reactor temperature — raises the rate constant k, so conversion recovers even at short residence time.
- Reagent ratio — stoichiometric balance between the two feed streams, visible as the mixed colour skewing toward whichever reagent is in excess.
- Flow regime — laminar flow mixes only by diffusion across the tube; turbulence folds the streams together far faster, which is the whole point of a static mixer or packed-bed flow reactor.