The driving force distribution for minimum lost work in chemical reactors close to and far from equilibrium. 1. Theory

We present a mathematical procedure for the determination of the driving fo rce distribution in a chemical reactor that has minimum lost work for a giv en production rate. It is shown how the path of minimum lost work is determ ined from knowlegde of reaction kinetics, using the reaction A --> B as an example. The normal chemical reaction has a nonlinear relation between the rate, r, and the driving force, -A/T, where A is the affinity and T is the absolute temperature. Minimum lost work is obtained when A/T + r d(A/T)dr i s constant. This criterion is converted into a more practical criterion for the operating temperature along the reactor. The inverse operating tempera ture should be parallel to the inverse equilibrium temperature, when the en thalpy of reaction is constant.