Reactors under type: Adiabatic

Exploration for an acceptable or optimum design for a new reactor may require consideration of several feed and product specifications, reactor types, catalysts, operating conditions, and economic evaluations. Modifications to an existing process likewise may need to consider many cases. Commercial software may be used to facilitate examination of options. A typical package can handle a number of reactions in various ideal reactors under isothermal, adiabatic, or heat-transfer conditions in one or two phases. Outputs can provide profiles of composition, pressure, and temperature as well as vessel size. 

This system is the most complex, but also the most versatile. In fact, with this type of system, all the previous modes are accessible without further modification. The temperature set point corresponds to a predefined function of time (Figure 9.12). Polytrophic conditions can be achieved (see Section 6.6). The reactor is heated up at a temperature lower than that of the reaction and is then run under adiabatic conditions, Finally, cooling is started to stabilize the temperature at the desired level. By doing so, energy is saved because it is the heat of reaction that attains the process temperature. Moreover, for batch reactions, the cooling capacity is not oversized, since the low temperature at the beginning of the reaction diminishes the heat production rate. Other control strategies are possible, such as the ramped reactor, where the temperature varies with time (see Section 7.7). 

Nitrobenzene (Aniline). The U.S. nitrobenzene production was about 2 billion lb in 1999. Two types of manufacturing processes were used the direct nitration and the adiabatic nitration process. In the direct nitration system, benzene is mixed with a mixture of nitric/ sulfuric acid. The reaction can be carried out in either a batch or a continuous system. Those reactors require a cooling system to keep it at constant temperature. It also requires a separate system for sulfuric acid reconcentration. In the adiabatic process, water is flashed off under vacuum before the sulfuric acid/nitrobenzene separation. The advantage of the adiabatic process is to eliminate a separated sulfuric acid reconcentration unit. This also will provide a better heat integration. Recently, the disposal of nitrophenols has become a major issue for aniline manufacture. Small amounts of nitrophenols are always made during the benzene... 

The primary reason for choosing a particular reactor type is the influence of mixing on the reaction rates. Since the rates affect conversion, yield, and selectivity we can select a reactor that optimizes the steady-state economics of the process. For example, the plug-flow reactor has a smaller volume than the CSTR for the same production rate under isothermal conditions and kinetics dominated by the reactant concentrations. The opposite may be true for adiabatic operation or autocata-lytic reactions. For those situations, the CSTR would have the smaller volume since it could operate at the exit conditions of a plug-flow reactor and thus achieve a higher overall rate of reaction. 

Many times, the conversion of a reactor depends on the operating temperature. Even if isothermal operation is recommended, sometimes it is not easy to remove the energy generated during the reaction, or because it can be an asset for the process, the reactor operates under adiabatic conditions. The example that we are trying to solve now presents the features of this last type. In the production of nitric acid from ammonia, the converter oxidizes NHj into NO. The conversion of that reactor varies with temperature and the conversion profile may be obtained from experimental data in the Ullmann s Encyclopedia [9]. 

In the DTP process, the DME/methanol mixture is thought to react in the presence of steam on an alkaline earth metal-containing zeolite catalyst from the ZSM-5 type. The preferable alkaline earth metal is said to be calcium [53]. The reaction proceeds at a temperature in the 500°C range under near atmospheric pressure through multiple fixed-bed adiabatic reactors connected in series. 

Most chemical processes involve two important operations (reaction and separalion) that are typically carried out in different sections of the plant and use different equipment. The reaction section of the process can use several types of reactors [continuous stirred-tank reactor (CSTR), tubular, or batch] and operate under a wide variety of conditions (catalyzed, adiabatic, cooled or heated, single phase, multiple phases, etc.). The separation section can have several types of operations (distillation, extraction, crystallization, adsorption, etc.), with distillation being by far the most commonly used method. Recycle streams between the two sections of these conventional multiunit flowsheets are often incorporated in the process for a variety of reasons to improve conversion and yield, to minimize the production of undesirable byproducts, to improve energy efficiency, and to improve dynamic controllability. 

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