Thread Content
There is a question related to exothermic reaction processes. Under the action of catalyst C, raw materials A and B react in a reactor to produce the main product D and the by-product E. The reaction equations are as follows: Main reaction: 2A + B → D; Side reaction: A + B → E. Here, the main product D is the desired product, while the by-product E is an impurity. Both the main reaction and the side reaction are highly exothermic. To achieve a higher reaction conversion rate, a process with an excess of raw material A is employed. F is an inhibitor used to prevent overheating in the reaction tank; properties of the material are as follows: molecular weight M in g/mol, density ρ in kg/m3, boiling point t in °C. A: 3672065, B: 24840150, C: 72980112, D: 96910155, E: 60880135, F: 1081100167. For H2O: 181000100. The reference process parameters are as follows: the feed ratio of A, B, and C is approximately 9:3:1. The pressure range in the flash tank is 20 – 120 KPa. The outlet at the bottom of reactor R101 contains product D, impurity E, catalyst C, as well as unreacted material A and a small amount of material B. To recover material A, a flash tank V102 is installed downstream of the reactor; this tank is used to separate and purify the excess material A from the mixed mixture (D+E+C+A+B) so that it can be reused. The mixed product (D+E+C+A+B) at the bottom of the flash tank V102 is pressurized by a transfer pump and sent to downstream separation processes for purification and refinement in order to isolate product D. Here comes the question: 1. To separate A, is it better to have a lower pressure inside the flash tank? 2. Is it possible for the air pressure to cause other materials to vaporize along with A? 3. So, what is a generally appropriate pressure level?