Dilute aqueous ethanol (about 2-3%) is oxidized to acetic acid by the action of pure oxygen at 10 atm in a trickle bed reactor packed with palladium-alumina catalyst pellets and kept at 30°C. According to Sato et al., Proc. First Pacific Chem. Eng. Congress, Kyoto, p. 197,1972, the reaction proceeds as follows:

Find the fractional conversion of ethanol to acetic acid if gas and liquid are fed to the top of a reactor in the following system:

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with rate on catalyst O₂(g) + CH₂CH₂OH(1) CH3COOH(1) + H₂O (A) (B) -rA = k'CA, k' = 1.77 x 10-5 m³/kg-s