Chemical A (liquid) is being converted into a product R (liquid) in a vessel packed with non-ferrous spherical catalyst beads. The specific surface area of the catalyst is 200 m2 /m3 , its bulk density is 3030 kg/m3 and the porosity of the bed filled with the beads is 0.40. The stoichiometric equation representing this conversion is A = 2 R, and the rate of disappearance of A based on unit mass of the catalyst is proportional to the concentration of A. The following rate equation is obtained experimentally for this conversion:

-RA = 1 W [ dNA dt ] = 0.1 CA

NA is number of moles of reactant A; W is weight of solid catalyst.