A chemical plant produces a product in a continuous stirred tank reactor (CSTR) that has a volume of 600 L. The flow rate of the product is 20 L s-1. The product results from a first order reaction of a reactant A, with a rate constant of 0.02 s-1. The system can be assumed to be isothermal and of constant density.

Determine the conversion that can be achieved using this system.

With one reactor there is a risk of losing production in case of breakdown in the reactor system, such as an impeller or a feeding pump. Thus in order to improve the reliability of the system, it was decided to use three CSTR reactors in series each of volume 200 L, instead of the 600 L reactor. This would also have the added benefit of increasing the overall conversion. The system would still operate at the same volumetric flow rate. However, after operating for some time, one of the small reactors broke down. It was decided to bypass the faulty reactor and continue operation with two reactors. Calculate the overall conversion in this case.