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Semibatch operation of a recirculation reactor for the hydrogenation of ethylene
Author(s) -
Leinroth J. P.,
Sherwood T. K.
Publication year - 1964
Publication title -
aiche journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.958
H-Index - 167
eISSN - 1547-5905
pISSN - 0001-1541
DOI - 10.1002/aic.690100421
Subject(s) - ethylene , inert , chemistry , catalysis , reaction rate constant , kinetics , reaction rate , thermodynamics , constant (computer programming) , copper , chemical engineering , organic chemistry , physics , engineering , computer science , quantum mechanics , programming language
The purpose of this study was to develop the use of semibatch operation of a recirculation reactor in kinetic studies. Ethylene hydrogenation over a supported copper catalyst was studied experimentally. In semibatch operation one of the reactants is fed at the rate necessary to hold the total pressure in the reactor constant. In ethvlene hydrogenation the reaction rate is directly equal to the feed rate, and the kinetics can be studied at constant partial pressure of either of the reactants. Since ethane is inert, this technique permitted the study of reaction rate as a function of one variable at a time. Although ethylene hydrogenation has been studied extensively, there is not general agreement regarding the kinetics over a copper catalyst. The results are themselves of interest because they indicate the reasons for the apparently conflicting data in the literature.