Comparison between the Performances of a Well-Stirred Slurry Reactor and a Spray Loop Reactor for the Alkylation of p-Cresol with Isobutene

Abstract

The kinetics of the alkylation of p-cresol with isobutene has been studied, first of all, in a well-stirred slurry reactor. Preliminary runs of CO2 absorption in water and of isobutene absorption in p-cresol, in the same reactor, have been made for estimating the gas−liquid mass-transfer coefficient in an independent way. The kinetic model, developed in a previous work, has been improved and the related parameters have been determined by mathematical regression analysis of many kinetic runs. Different kinetic runs have then been performed also by using a spray tower loop reactor (STLR) in similar physical conditions. These runs have been simulated in a satisfactory way by using the same kinetic model and parameters, changing only mass-transfer parameters for taking into account the different fluid dynamic conditions. The performances obtained by the two different reactors are in some conditions comparable. This work has demonstrated, therefore, the possibility and the convenience of extending the use of S...