Comparison of different kinetic models for the chlorohydrin process using real data from an industrial tubular reactor

Abstract

AbstractThe main objective of this study was to investigate how different kinetic models for the chlorohydrin process can influence the simulation results. In order to accomplish this objective, a simplified reactor model was developed and applied on the kinetic models. The simulation results were compared with actual process data (three different data sets) from an industrial tubular reactor in order to find the most appropriate kinetic model as well as to validate the model. The results of numerical simulations showed good agreement with the measured actual values. The influences of the reactor length, the input flow temperature and the entering molar flows of components on the process performance were studied using the validated mathematical model. The maximum molar flow rate of propylene oxide was achieved with temperature of the entering reaction mixture of 57 °C. The reactor length, the input flow temperature and the molar flows of components have the strongest influence on overall selectivity of propylene oxide related to propylene glycol.