I think this is useful, concise information to know about the reactor model in Aspen Plus (and Dynamics as well). Thanks to original commenter - David Tremblay. His original comment is found in LinkedIn comment ID 78253172 .
Aspen Plus includes three types of reactor models. The type you choose depends on the level of rigor you want to use and the amount of information you have available:
(1) Balance/conversion reactors - RSTOIC, RYIELD
- These reactors are for mass and energy balance purposes. You specify the conversion or yield and the reaction stoichiometry. In essence, you tell Aspen the expected result and it handles the details of the mass, energy, and species balances.
(2) Equilibrium reactors - REQUIL, RGIBBS
- These reactor models are appropriate for fast reactions that reach equilibrium quickly (although there are ways to specify approach to equilibrium for non-ideal cases). RGIBBS is the most flexible model. It allows multiple phases (including multiple solid phases) and multiple species. This model uses Gibbs free energy minimization to predict results. It requires accurate thermodynamics since Gibbs energy is calculated from enthalpy and entropy.
(3) Rate-based kinetic reactors - RBATCH, RCSTR, RPLUG
These models are appropriate when you know the reaction kinetics. You describe kinetics using one of the built-in reaction models (power law, LHHW, etc.) or your own user-defined kinetic subroutine. RBATCH and RCSTR are able to represent reactors with solid-phase catalysts. RPLUG can represent tubular or multi-tube plug flow reactors. RCSTR represents any well mixed stirred tank (or fluid bed) reactors. RBATCH is for batch reactors. These reactor models are more predictive, but they require more information to describe reaction rates.
