Reactor Design Explorer

An interactive MATLAB application for simulating and comparing chemical reactor designs. Built as a final-year chemical engineering showcase project.

Features

• Three reactor types: Batch, CSTR (Continuous Stirred Tank Reactor), and PFR (Plug Flow Reactor)
• Live parameter control: Adjust temperature, flow rate, concentration, activation energy, and reaction order in real time
• 3D animations: Animated 3D visualisations of each reactor with particle flow
• Side-by-side comparison: Overlay all three reactors on shared axes to compare conversion and concentration profiles
• Dark-themed GUI: Professional multi-window interface built entirely in MATLAB

Running the App

Option 1 — Installer (no MATLAB needed)

1. Download installer/ReactorDesignExplorer_Setup.exe
2. Run the installer — it will download and install MATLAB Runtime R2024a automatically (internet required, one-time ~800 MB)
3. Launch Reactor Design Explorer from the Start Menu or desktop shortcut

Option 2 — MATLAB source (requires MATLAB R2024a)

cd('path\to\this\folder')
ReactorDesignExplorer

Reload command (after editing source files)

close all force; clear classes;
cd('path\to\this\folder');
ReactorDesignExplorer;

File Structure

File	Purpose
ReactorDesignExplorer.m	Main hub — reaction setup panel and reactor launcher
BatchReactorWindow.m	Batch reactor window with 3D animation
CSTRWindow.m	CSTR window with 3D animation
PFRWindow.m	PFR (shell-and-tube) window with 3D animation
ReactorCompareWindow.m	Comparison overlay — all three reactors on shared axes
rxKinetics.m	Kinetics engine — Arrhenius, analytical Ca solutions for all reactor types
rxWindowStyle.m	Shared UI styling helpers
compileApp.m	Script to recompile the standalone exe (requires MATLAB Compiler)
buildInstaller.m	Script to rebuild the installer package (requires MATLAB Compiler)

Reactor Physics

Supports first-order and second-order reactions with user-configurable parameters:

Parameter	Default	Description
C₀	0.1 mol/L	Initial concentration
Eₐ	43790 J/mol	Activation energy
A	1.11×10⁸	Pre-exponential factor
Vᵣ	1.0 L	Reactor volume
tₘₐₓ	20 min	Batch time horizon

Analytical solutions (Arrhenius rate constant k = A·exp(−Eₐ/RT)):

Reactor	1st order	2nd order
Batch	Cₐ = C₀·exp(−k·t)	Cₐ = C₀/(1 + k·C₀·t)
CSTR	Cₐ = C₀/(1 + k·τ)	Cₐ = 2C₀/(1 + √(1 + 4k·τ·C₀))
PFR	Cₐ = C₀·exp(−k·V/q)	Cₐ = C₀/(1 + k·C₀·V/q)

Requirements

• MATLAB R2024a (for source files)
• Or MATLAB Runtime R2024a (for the compiled installer — free from MathWorks)
• No additional toolboxes required

Author

Chrysler Steve — Petrochemical Engineering, Final Year