Which thermodynamic method does it use?

The NRTL property package, over ethanol, water — already selected. You can switch the method on the canvas before running.

Which unit operations are in the flowsheet?

It chains CSTR. Every block is a real, solvable unit operation you can reconfigure, add to, or remove.

Do I need to install software or buy a license?

No. Kinetic CSTR runs entirely in your browser on MaximaLabs — free, no install, no license. Open the model to load it live and run the deterministic solver.

All guides

Reference model

How to simulate kinetic cstr

A continuous stirred-tank reactor with an Arrhenius first-order rate — outlet conversion comes from the kinetics, not a specified value.

Featured in:Fine Chemicals

FEED

CSTR

OUT

1
Open the ready-made model
Open the "Kinetic CSTR" model in the MaximaLabs workspace — no install, no license. It loads live on the canvas, ready to edit and run.
2
Confirm the thermodynamics
This process is modeled with the NRTL property package over ethanol, water — already selected, so the phase equilibrium and enthalpy are physically consistent from the first run.
3
Review the flowsheet
The flowsheet chains CSTR. Every block is a real, solvable unit op you can reconfigure on the canvas.
4
Run the simulation
Click Run. The deterministic solver converges the material and energy balances (recycles included) and fills the live stream table — the AI never invents a number.
5
Read the results and iterate
Inspect the converged streams, tweak a spec, and re-run — or ask the AI copilot to explain a result or diagnose a failed solve in plain English.

What you'll build

Thermodynamics: NRTL
Components: ethanol, water
Unit operations: CSTR

Open this model in the workspace

Opens live on the canvas — free, no install.

Explore the model & flowsheet

Frequently asked questions

What does the Kinetic CSTR model simulate?: A continuous stirred-tank reactor with an Arrhenius first-order rate — outlet conversion comes from the kinetics, not a specified value.
Which thermodynamic method does it use?: The NRTL property package, over ethanol, water — already selected. You can switch the method on the canvas before running.
Which unit operations are in the flowsheet?: It chains CSTR. Every block is a real, solvable unit operation you can reconfigure, add to, or remove.
Do I need to install software or buy a license?: No. Kinetic CSTR runs entirely in your browser on MaximaLabs — free, no install, no license. Open the model to load it live and run the deterministic solver.

More guides like this

Reference model

CSTR thermal runaway (Arrhenius exotherm)

Adiabatic ethylene oxide hydrolysis to ethylene glycol in a CSTR — the classic reactor-safety teaching case (Fogler). Solves to a safe steady conversion at the design feed temperature; switch to the Dynamic solve mode and step the feed temperature up a few degrees to watch the exotherm and the Arrhenius rate feed back on each other (thermal runaway), self-limited as the reactant depletes.

Ludwigshafen, Germany

Polymerization reactor comparison: CSTR cascade vs. tubular (PFR)

The same monomer feed, split 50/50 into two trains at equal total reactor volume: a 3-stage CSTR cascade (each stage blending its own new polymer with the MWD already carried by the stream from the stage before it) versus a single tubular (PFR) reactor. Both converge to a real, different Mn/Mw/PDI — the PFR reaches higher conversion at the same total volume, but its cumulative polydispersity is measurably broader than the cascade's, because chain length drifts continuously with conversion along the tube while each CSTR stage makes its own local production under one fixed monomer concentration. See the 'Polymerization Reactors' docs page for the full reasoning.

Amarillo, Texas, USA

Helium liquefaction (Linde-Hampson cycle)

A Joule-Thomson liquefaction loop: helium is compressed, aftercooled, precooled well below its ~40-51 K JT-inversion temperature, then throttled through a valve into a flash drum that draws off liquid helium while the cold vapor recycles back to the compressor suction — the same JT-cycle physics as the platform's LNG/refrigeration loops, run on a fluid whose inversion curve makes precooling mandatory before the throttle can cool it at all.

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Cement kiln calcination + CO2 liquefaction

Preheated limestone (CaCO₃) enters an indirectly-heated rotary kiln that calcines it toward CaO, releasing a CO₂-rich off-gas; the gas passes a knockout drum, then is compressed and cooled to liquefy the CO₂ for transport/storage.

Mont Belvieu NGL fractionation complex, Texas, USA

NGL fractionation: single-shell Petlyuk dividing-wall column

A natural-gas-liquids cut (ethane / propane / n-butane) split into three on-spec products by ONE thermally-coupled dividing-wall column instead of two columns in series. This uses the native Petlyuk unit op: a prefractionator whose reflux and boilup are supplied by the main column (the single condenser + single reboiler), solved by an outer Wegstein loop that converges the bidirectional vapor/liquid coupling to self-consistency — the coupling legacy sequential-modular solvers approximate with two connected columns whose recycle fails to converge.

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Ethanol–water distillation

An 8-stage column concentrating ethanol overhead toward the azeotrope (the headline demo).