Is it common to use reactors with a pressure of 10 MPa in large-scale production?
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Hello, teachers! I’m conducting experiments in the lab right now, and there are two processes: 1. 300 ℃, 1 MPa, 4 h ； 2, 300 °C, 10 MPa, 1.5 h ； The reaction medium is a mixture of water and polyester. I would like to ask whether it is easy to manufacture a reactor with a pressure of 10–15 MPa, and whether it is dangerous (assuming the reactor size is to be increased to several dozen cubic meters). If considering scaling up for these two processes, how should one make a choice? (Please help analyze the factors related to the equipment.)
Security relates first to the medium and second to the system. It is your responsibility to determine whether the medium is safe or not; the higher the system pressure, the greater the risk – isn’t that obvious? Then there’s cost efficiency; as long as you have the money, 100MPa is achievable. It depends on whether your supervisor will swat you to death with a fly swatter!
I have not dealt with reactions under such high pressure; these are just some thoughts for reference. Is it a continuous or intermittent process? If material is fed and extracted continuously, the cost of transporting the medium under high pressure is very high, making it uneconomical. In the case of an intermittent closed system, the temperature of the medium rises and pressure increases as material is added, so the operating costs are low and this approach can be viable
Thank you, teacher, for your explanation. In the end, we plan to implement a continuous process with three reactors connected in series. . . Is it feasible to use a pressure of 10 Mpa in this situation, including for valves, pumps, etc. (in large-scale production)?
10 Mpa is the self-generated pressure of the water medium in a closed system. .
Thank you for the reply. Of course, costs need to be taken into consideration; the product is a type of bulk chemical
It is recommended to use a low-pressure process; increasing the residence time in the volume can compensate for the disadvantage in reaction time. However, even when a high-pressure process is chosen, the selection of valves for the equipment can still be handled appropriately for these two operating conditions
Scaling up the process is no problem; 10 MPa is quite common in coal chemical industry and oil refining
Large-scale production requires substantial investment; additional costs are needed for preliminary research and design. It is not advisable to follow the misleading advice of those who lack experience in this area. One can turn to large design firms and major equipment manufacturers to seek reference cases involving high pressure; if there is no reliable experience in this area, it is recommended to use low pressure, with as many containers as possible at most
Yes, but not many; mainly the following hydrogenation reactions and polymerization reactions
It is recommended to use a process pressure of 1 MPa under otherwise identical conditions; this significantly reduces the difficulty of equipment manufacturing and enhances safety. As for the long reaction time, this issue can be resolved by making the equipment larger or by using multiple units in series or parallel