Compare Batch vs CSTR vs PFR

This page overlays all three ideal reactors on the same axes so their performance can be read against one another directly, across both temperature and volumetric flow rate, for whatever reaction and kinetics you have configured.

The classic reaction engineering result is visible here rather than merely asserted: for any positive-order rate law a plug-flow reactor outperforms a continuous stirred-tank reactor of the same volume, because the CSTR operates entirely at its low exit concentration while the PFR sees a concentration that falls gradually from the inlet value. The gap widens as reaction order and target conversion increase.

All three curves recompute together as you change temperature, flow rate, stoichiometry or rate law, which makes the crossover conditions and the size of the CSTR penalty easy to explore.

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