Elements of
Chemical Reaction Engineering
6th Edition



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Essentials of
Chemical Reaction Engineering
Second Edition

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Chapter 2: Conversion and Reactor Sizing

Additional Homework Problems

CDP2-BA Ethics

  You are employed in a small company, which is trying to build a plant to produce chemical X. As a result of your low overhead and other factors, you should be able to significantly underprice your competitor. You have sized all the pieces of equipment except the reactor(s). You cannot do this because you don't know the kinetic parameters nor do you have laboratory equipment to determine them. Time is of the essence and your boss suggests that you take a photograph of your competitor's reactor, which is located outside, and use that to size your reactor. He suggests you hire a plane for aerial photographs or truck similar to those used to repair telephone lines that could see over the fences (see Photo p. 46). Your boss also suggests you could get an estimate of the production rate by monitoring the size and number of trucks shipping the product from the plant. Using your results from Problem 2-17A as a basis, how confident are you that your estimates of the sizes will be reasonably accurate? Do you feel it is ethical to estimate the reactor sizes and production rates in this manner? Make a list of reasons and arguments as to why your boss might feel it is ethical to request you to do this. If you don't feel that this is ethical, make a list of reasons and arguments as to why it should not be done. Suggest alternative ways to obtain the desired information. You may wish to consult the book The Power of Ethical Management by K. Blanchard, and N. V. Peale, New York: Fawcett Crest. (1988) to identify and evaluate the ethical issues. If you feel that the above situation is clearly ethical or unethical, revise the scenario so that it is in a gray area. For example, would it be ethical if the reactor were in full view from the street? What if your boss suggested that you get a tour of the plant with a Boy Scout troop, and try to take pictures and obtain other information (e.g., read gauges) while on the tour at the Annual “Engineering as a Profession Day” three weeks from now? Use Blanchard and Peale’s Ethics Check List Questions (Is it legal?, Is it balanced? How will it make me feel about myself!) to help take the grayness out of the situation and make it black and white.

[2nd Ed. P2-18 B ]