Industrial processes conversion

Shiraishi et al. [49,50] immobilized glucoamylase of Rhizopus delemar in monolith structures and used them for saccharification of soluble starch. The process was studied at first in a batch reactor at SOX and 4.5 bar. The simplified kinetic model was developed. A continuous process was realized in a monolith reactor consisting of 10 pieces stacked on top of each other, where the blocks were rotated by ir/4 on their axes. The reaction rate at a glucose concentration of 460 g dm" was approximately two times higher than in a conventional industrial process. Conversion of 47% was reached at a space time of 12 hr. The half-life of enzyme was 79 days. 

The manufacture of the highly pure ketene required for ketenization and acetylation reactions is based on the pyrolysis of diketene, a method which has been employed in industrial manufacture. Conversion of diketene to monomeric ketene is accompHshed on an industrial scale by passing diketene vapor through a tube heated to 350—600°C. Thus, a convenient and technically feasible process for producing ketene uncontaminated by methane, other hydrocarbons, and carbon oxides, is available. Based on the feasibiHty of this process, diketene can be considered a more stable form of the unstable ketene. 

In an alternative industrial process, resorcinol [108-46-3] is autoclaved with ammonia for 2—6 h at 200—230°C under a pressurized nitrogen atmosphere, 2.2—3.5 MPa (22—35 atm). Diammonium phosphate, ammonium molybdate, ammonium sulfite, or arsenic pentoxide maybe used as a catalyst to give yields of 60—94% with 85—90% selectivity for 3-aminophenol (67,68). A vapor-phase system operating at 320°C using a siUcon dioxide catalyst impregnated with gallium sesquioxide gives a 26—31% conversion of resorcinol with a 96—99% selectivity for 3-aminophenol (69). 

The conversion of chemical energy by oxidative processes at high temperatures is a major source of heat for many industrial processes and, on a more sophisticated plane, for the propulsion of aircraft and advanced rockets, such as the Shuttle. The generation of high temperatures by these reactions... 

Hydroformylation is an important industrial process carried out using rhodium phosphine or cobalt carbonyl catalysts. The major industrial process using the rhodium catalyst is hydroformylation of propene with synthesis gas (potentially obtainable from a renewable resource, see Chapter 6). The product, butyraldehyde, is formed as a mixture of n- and iso- isomers the n-isomer is the most desired product, being used for conversion to butanol via hydrogenation) and 2-ethylhexanol via aldol condensation and hydrogenation). Butanol is a valuable solvent in many surface coating formulations whilst 2-ethylhexanol is widely used in the production of phthalate plasticizers. 

However, it was generally found that the total C2 hydrocarbon selectivity decreases drastically with increasing conversion of methane, so that Yc2 (the total C2 hydrocarbon yield) was always found, until very recently, to be less than 30% [1-9]. Achieving C2 hydrocarbon yield in excess of 50% is a necessary requirement for the development of an economically viable industrial process. 

When a calcined Cr(VI)/Si02 catalyst is fed with ethylene at 373-423 K, an induction time is observed prior to the onset of the polymerization. This is attributed to a reduction phase, during which chromium is reduced and ethylene is oxidized [4]. Baker and Garrick obtained a conversion of 85-96% to Cr(II) for a catalyst exposed to ethylene at 400 K formaldehyde was the main by-product [44]. Water and other oxidation products have been also observed in the gas phase. These reduction products are very reactive and consequently can partially cover the surface. The same can occur for reduced chromium sites. Consequently, the state of sihca surface and of chromium after this reduction step is not well known. Besides the reduction with ethylene of Cr(Vl) precursors (adopted in the industrial process), four alternative approaches have been used to produce supported chromium in a reduced state ... 

The oxidative dehydrogenation of methanol to formaldehyde was choosen as model reaction by BASF for performance evaluation of micro reactors [1, 49-51, 108]. In the industrial process a methanol-air mixture of equimolecular ratio of methanol and oxygen is guided through a shallow catalyst bed of silver at 150 °C feed temperature, 600-650 °C exit temperature, atmospheric pressure and a contact time of 10 ms or less. Conversion amounts to 60-70% at a selectivity of about 90%. 

Conversion/selectivity/yield - benchmarking to laboratory and industrial processes... 

Consider an equilibrium-limited esterification reaction. One way to drive the reaction to completion is to remove the water formed by the reaction selectively through a membrane. This can be an attractive strategy when higher temperatures are undesirable due to factors like colouration of the materials and formation of undesirable products even though these may be present at a low level. As another example, consider the air oxidation of cyclohexane or cyclododecane to cyclohexanone/-ol or cyclododecanone/-ol, where the product can undergo more facile oxidation to unwanted or much lower value products. Consequently, industrial processes operate at a level of less than 5% conversion. If a membrane can selectively remove cyclohexanone as it is formed, the problems mentioned above can be thwarted. However, selective polymeric membranes, which can work at oxidation temperature, have not yet been proved. 

One major problem of the industrial process of phenol methylation is the low yield with respect to methanol, due to its decomposition consequently, a large excess of methanol is usually fed in order to reach an acceptable per-pass conversion of phenol. This aspect, however, is often forgotten in scientific literature, and only... 

The Wacker Reaction and Related Oxidations. An important industrial process based on Pd-alkene complexes is the Wacker reaction, a catalytic method for conversion of ethene to acetaldehyde. The first step is addition of water to the Pd(n)-activated alkene. The addition intermediate undergoes the characteristic elimination of Pd(0) and H+ to generate the enol of acetaldehyde. 

Conversion of benzene to cyclohexene by partial catalytic hydrogenation is a very important industrial process, since it provides a new route to cyclohexanol, a precursor of nylon, when combined with hydration of cyclohexene. For example, Asahi Chemical Company of Japan developed a selective bilayer catalytic system including a Ru catalyst, Zr02 and ZnS04 under 50 atm of H2 pressure, a process affording the olefin with up to 60% selectivity after 90% conversion of benzene.72... 

Zeolites have also been described as efficient catalysts for acylation,11 for the preparation of acetals,12 and proved to be useful for acetal hydrolysis13 or intramolecular lactonization of hydroxyalkanoic acids,14 to name a few examples of their application. A number of isomerizations and skeletal rearrangements promoted by these porous materials have also been reported. From these, we can underline two important industrial processes such as the isomerization of xylenes,2 and the Beckmann rearrangement of cyclohexanone oxime to e-caprolactam,15 which is an intermediate for polyamide manufacture. Other applications include the conversion of n-butane to isobutane,16 Fries rearrangement of phenyl esters,17 or the rearrangement of epoxides to carbonyl compounds.18... 

Source Adapted from Hailong, X., The Shell Coal Gasification Process (SCGP), International Hi-Tech Symposium on Coal Chemical Industry Coal Conversion, Oct. 30-31, Shanghai, China, 2004. 

The detailed kinetic description of a chemical process is a primary feature for both the industrial practice and the comprehension of the reaction mechanism. The development of a kinetic model able to predict at the same time the reactants conversion and the products distribution (i.e., a detailed kinetic model) is a prerequisite for the design, optimization, and simulation of the industrial process. Also, the detailed description of process kinetics allows the ex post evaluation of the goodness of the mechanistic scheme on the basis of which the model itself is developed, making possible the collection of further insight in the chemistry of the process. 

Steam reforming is a heterogeneously catalyzed process, with nickel catalyst deposited throughout a preformed porous support. It is empirically observed in the industry, that conversion is proportional to the geometric surface area of the catalyst particles, rather than the internal pore area. This suggests that the particle behaves as an egg-shell type, as if all the catalytic activity were confined to a thin layer at the external surface. It has been demonstrated by conventional reaction-diffusion particle modelling that this behaviour is due to... 

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