The Ethylene Oxide Example

1 Routine tests for Quality Control The Ethylene Oxide Example 

In well-established processes, like ethylene oxidation to ethylene oxide, quality control tests for a routinely manufactured catalyst can be very simple if the test is developed on the basis of detailed kinetic studies and modeling of the performance in a commercial reactor. Tests must answer questions that influence the economics of the commercial process. The three most important questions are  

Product concentration influences the separation cost and the cost of recycling unconverted reactants. Production rate has a strong effect on investment cost for the full synthesis loop. Selectivity sets the raw material 

The te ci r l fielfi S0 y%hasin et al (1980) is a search for the temperature where ethylene oxide concentration in the discharge reaches 

As in most. systematically done and well-controlled experimental series, results can be reevaluated later on for additional purposes. In this set, the heat generation rates were evaluated with the help of the heats of reaction, at every temperature used. These in turn formed the basis for evaluation of temperature amaway conditions, as will be shown in Chapter 9. 

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In the ethylene oxide example, modifications to the way the process was implemented reduced the hazards. Likewise a modification to the chemical route can be beneficial. For example, instead of reacting A with B and then C to make a compound ABC, it may be relatively safer to make it by reacting B with C and then A to give the same product. The latter avoids the intermediate AB which might be potentially the most lethal chemical compound. An example, relevant to the disaster at Bhopal, is given in figure 8.9. This illustrates one objective of all those concerned with design. It can be labelled attenuation — the reduction of hazards in a process which, in terms... 

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