Baixe Patent Reactor FFR Ballestra e outras Notas de estudo em PDF para Engenharia Química, somente na Docsity! United States Patent Ballestra et al. 119] nn 3,884,643 iás] May 20, 1975 [54] DEVICE FOR PERFORMING HIGHLY EXOTHERMIC REACTIONS [76] Inventors: Mario Ballestra, Corso Bucnos Aires 92; Domenico Triberti, Via Burlamacchi 11, both of Milan, Italy [22] Filed: Feb. 22, 1972 [21] Appl No.: 228,409 Related U.S. Application Data [62] Division of Ser No. 713401, March 15, 1968, abandoned. [52] Us. CL 23/285; 23/283; 23/260; R; 261/154; 260/505 R [51] Int. CL. BOI; 1/00 [58] Field of Search...... 23/285, 283, 260; 261/1 12, 261/154, 121 R [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2095,338 10/1937 Luther et al 23/285 UX 2,385,200 9/1945 Fricdel 23/283 X 2,776,820 1/1957 | Bond, Jr. 23/283 UX 3,427,342 2/1969 23/283 X 3,511,615 5/1970 23/283 Primary Examiner— James H. Tayman, Jr. Attorney, Agent, or Firm—Robert E. Burns; Emmanuel J. Lobato; Bruce L. Adams [57] ABSTRACT Reaction between a liquid reagent and a gaseous rea- gent wherein at least one of the products is a liquid is carried out by first mixing the liquid reagent with liq- uid product, so that the reaction with the gaseous rea- gent is carried out while the liquid reagent is in a solu- tion of the liquid product. The mixture of liquid rea- gent and liquid product is contacted with the gaseous reagent while the liquid mixture is in rapid circulation. The device for carrying out an exothermic reaction between a gaseous reagent and a liquid componnd, wherein at least one of the products of the reaction is tiquid is provided with means for mixing the liquid re- agent with the liquid product, at least one reaction conduit connected to the mixing means wherein the liquid mixture is put into rapid circulation and into contact with the gaseous reagent, means for control- ling the temperature of the reaction conduit and means for feeding the gaseous reagent into the reac- tion conduit. 34 Claims, 8 Drawing Figures Pela GASEOUS REAGENT -9 lo" Le LIQUID 1 REAGENT COOLING LIQUIO LIQUIDO PRODUCT 14 A f A 5 | Freadoucr Frenódicr Ml of or | + 102" Mm, 103" 8º) LIQUID REAGENT PATENTED MAY 20 1875 -H 4 FIG. E GASEOUS REAGENT GOOLING LIQUID / LIQUID PRODUCT a nm FIG4 FIGS 3,884,643 a ua 18 dd 20 NE Za 7 FIG.” FIG.3 Há N Leia. REAG. LIG. PROD. 3,884,643 5 tire amount of liquid reagent fed through the conduit 14, conduit 17 may be connected to a successive in: lation working in à similar manner and wherein a sec- ond fraction of gaseous reagent flows in paraliel. With reference to FIG. 3. the three cylindric c: of elements 101, 101" and 101" each contain substan- tially an apparatus of the kind shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. Element 101 is separated into four overlapped zones 102, 103, 104 and 105, each of which have the same function as zones 2, 3, 4 and 5 of FIG. 1. In the same way, elements 101 and 101" are pro- vided with zones 102', 103º, 104” and 105' and 102", 103", 104"! and 105" respectively. The liquid reagent is supplied through conduit 114 and, after having partially reacted with the gaseous rea- gent exits, through conduit 117 mixed with a first frac- tion of reaction product. Then the liquid mixture passes into element 101" and from here, through conduit 117", into element 101" wherefrom, through conduit 117! exits only the liquid reaction product. The gaseous reagent is fed in parallel through con- duits 106 to chambers 102" and 102". To zone 102 is sent the gascous reagent which exits through conduit 113' from the separation zone 105” of element 101”, thus the gaseous reagent sent to the first element 101, contains only a small percent of reagent remaining in the gaseous mixture after it has reacted with the liquid reagent in element 101". in this way, the beginning of the reaction, wherein fresh liquid reagent is supplied through conduit 114 serves to purify the almost exhausted gases coming from conduit 113*. Thus the gaseous products exiting from conduit 113 are completely frec of gascous reac- tant. The gas exits from element 101" through conduit 113", the reactant portion of this gas is normally sub- stantially exhausted during contact with the mixture of liquid reactant and product contained in element 101". FIGS. 4 and 5 show some alternate shapes of the re- action conduit 8, reaction conduit 8a is u Zig zag or worm-like shape and reaction conduit 84 is in the form of a spiral. FIG. 6 illustrates the end portion of a con- duit 8c having an outlet which causes a rotation motion in the separation chamber. In FIG. 7, a reaction conduit 8 is shown which is pro- vided with agitation means, namely a turbine which co- operates to dispérse the liquid and mix the liquid with the gaseous reagent. With respect to FIG. 7, the rotor 20 is rotatably supported by bearings 21 carried by suit- able support 22 which extend accross the conduit 8. The inventton is further described by means of the following example which is set forth purely for pur- poses of illustrating the invention and must not be con- sidered as limiting the scope thercof in any manner whatsoever. EXAMPLE Sulphonation of dodecylbenzene is carried out in a device of the Kind illustrated in FIG. 1. The folowing operating conditions produce 500 kgs./hr. of dodecyl- benzene sulphonic acid. From conduit 6 are fed 123 kg/hr. of SO; contained in a gaseous mixture obtained directly from the com- bustion of sulphur followed by the catalytic conversion of SO, to SOs; from conduit 14 are fed 378 kg./hr. of technical dodecylbenzene, which are mixed with the liquid produce of the reaction in conduit 15; the deliv- a 20 o s 6 ery of the recycle pump 16 is comprised between 5 and 25 mº/h; therefore, in conduit 7 each part of dodecyl- benzene is mixed with 10-50 parts of dodecylbenzene sulphonic acid; from conduit 17, 50 mg. of product are obtained per hour; the reaction temperature is main- tained at about 65º €., by means of the circulation of cooling water which is fed through conduit 10 and dis- charged through conduit 10º. From the above description, it may be noted that one of the advantages of the invention is the use of a great mass of liquid mixture constituted by the liquid reac- tion product and the liquid reagent in relation to the mass of the liquid reagent, which facilitates the solution of the gascous reagent, and thus aids and increases the rate of reaction. Due to the high rate of solution of the gaseous reagent and thereby the high rate of reaction Of the gaseous reagent, the gaseous compounds which separate in the separation chamber are mainly inert components, with which the gascous reagent may have been mixed when fed to the reaction conduits. In the process carried out in the present device the fraction of gaseous reagent which does not react is re- duced to negligible quantities. In the known sulphonation device wherein the gase- ous reagent rescts with a thin layer of liquid reagent Flowing on a heat exchange wall, it is necessary to feed a gaseous reagent in large excess in order to obtain re- action with a substantial portion of the liquid reactant. Further, in such a device, the gaseous reagent is fed at a relatively high speed with respect to the film of liquid reagent. For this reason, the gaseons reagent is fed under pressure, which causes problems in the installa- tion, especially when the gaseous reagent is poisonous or highly corrosive as is usually the case. A further advantage of the device is that the cooling, and generally the thermal regulation of the reaction product may be completed in the recycle circuit and in any event the cooling is greatly facilitated by the rela- tively high speed with which the liquid mixture travels O through the reaction zone. a! & Although for reasons of describing the present inven- tion some specific embodiments have been described and illustrated, these examples have been set forth by way of example only, and many modifications and vari- ations may be made in embodying the invention. For instance, in the above description, a fluid cooling means which circulates outside the reaction conduits and the mixing conduit has been described. However, when the reaction product is to be maintained at a given temperature, such a fluid heat exchanging means may be used to maintain a controlled elevated tempera- ture rather than to remove the heat of reaction. This fluid means may provide heat instead of absorbing the same. Tn a different embodiment of this invention the tem- perature controlling means may be performed by chambers suitably thermally maintained by means other than heat exchanging means. AH saíd modifications, however, having to be consid- ered as based on the following claims. What we claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is: 1. A device suitable for carrying out an exothermie reaction between a gaseous reagent and a liquid com- pound wherein at least one product of the reaction is liquid which comprises an elongated housing, a mani- fold in the upper end of said housing, a separation 3,884,643 7 chamber in the lower end of said housing for separating gaseous material from said liquid product, at least one reaction conduit within said elongated housing provid- ing fluid communication between said maniold and separation chamber, the inlet end of said reaction con- duit being at said manifold and the outlet end of said reaction conduit being at said separation chamber. dis- charge means for discharging said liquid product from said separation chamber, mixing means connected to said discharge means for mixing liquid reagent with at least part of said liquid product discharged from said separation chamber, at least one mixing-and-recycle conduit inside said housing providing fluid communica- tion between said mixing means and said manifold for mixing said liquid reagent and recycled liquid product and for circuluting said liquid reagent and recycled liq- uid product from the bottom to the top of said mixing- and-recycle conduit so that said liquid reagent and re- cycled liquid product in admixture then flow into said reaction conduit, at least one nozzte coaxial to and at the inlet of said reaction conduct for feeding said gase- ous reagent into said reaction conduit in concurrent flow relationship with the mixture of liquid reagent and recycled liquid product, and means for controlling the temperature of said reaction conduit. 2. A device according to claim 1, in which said elon- gated housing is cylindrical, said recycling-and-mixing conduit is coaxial with said cyfindrical housing, a plu- rality of said reaction conduits extend from said mani- fold; the outlet ends of said reaction conduits project into said separation chamber and said temperature controlling means comprises a cooling liquid in contact with said reaction conduits and also in contact with said recycling-and-mixing conduit. 3. A device according to claim 1 in which a plurality of said reaction conduits extend from said manifold, and said outlet ends of said reaction conduits project inside said separation chamber and are suitably di- rected so as to cause the liquid mixture passing into said chamber from said reaction conduits to have a ro- tational motion, causing the liquid mixture to centri- fuge outwards of said chamber, thus allowing the re- moval of the gaseous material from the central zone of said separation chamber. 4. A device according to claim 1 in which a plurality of said reaction conduits extend from said manifold. 5. A device according to claim 4 in which said tem- perature controlling means comprises a cooling liquid which flows through said housing in contact with said reaction conduits. 6. A device according to claim 4 in which said means for feeding said gaseous reagent comprises at least one nozzle arranged in the secton of each reaction conduit, said nozzles operating as ejectors which draw said liq- vid mixture into said reaction conduiis. 7. A device according to claim 4 in which a plurality of said nozzles are urranged to feed the gaseous reagent into each reaction conduit. 8. A device according to claim 4 in which said reac- tion conduits and said mixing conduit are substantially rectilinear, vertical and parallel. the position of sai mixing conduit with respect to the reaction conduits being such as to allow by means of said manifold a uni- form inflow of said liquid mixture from said mixing- and-recycle conduit into the plurality of reaction con- duits. 35 4s 8 9, A device according to claim 4 in which said reuc- tion conduits and said mixing-and-recycle conduil in a non vertical position, 10. A device according to claim 4 in which said de- vice also comprises means for agitating the mixture in said device also comprises means for agitating the mix- ture in said reaction conduits. 11. A device according to claim 4 in which said de- vice also comprises a smalt turbine for each reaction conduit which cooperates in mixing the gaseous rea- gent with the liquid mixture. 12. A device suitable to carry out an exothermic re- action between a gascous reagent and a liquid com- pound, wherein at least one product of the reaction is liquid which comprises an elongated cylindrical hous- ing, a manifold in the upper end of said housing, a sepa- ration chamber in the lower end of said housing for sep- arating a gaseous material from said liquid product, at least a reaction conduit providing fluid communication between said manifold and said separation chamber, discharge means for discharging said liquid product from said separation chamber, mixing means con- nected to said discharge means for mixing a liquid rea- gent with at least part of said liquid product discharged from said separation chamber, a recycling-and-mixing conduit coaxial with said cylindrical housing providing fluid communication between said mixing means and said manifold for mixing said liquid reagent and recy- cled liquid product and for circulating said liquid rea- gent and reeycled liquid product from the bottom to the top of said mixing and recycle conduit so that said liquid reagent and recycled liquid product in admixture then flow into said reaction conduit, at least one nozzle coaxial to said reaction conduit for feeding said gase- ous reagent into said reaction cond concurrent flow relationship with the mixture of liquid reagent and recycled liquid produet, and a cooling liquid in contact with said reaction conduit and said recycling-and- mixing conduit for controlling the temperature of said reaction conduit, wherein the outlet end of said reac- tion conduit projects inside said separation chamber and is suitably directed so as to cause the liquid mixture passing into said separation chamber from said reaction conduit to have a rotational motion, causing the liquid mixture to centrifuge outwards of said separation chamber, thus allowing the removal of the gaseous ma- terial from the central zone of said separation chamber. 13. A device according to claim 12 which further comprises at least a second discharge conduit from the upper portion of said separation chamber for discharg- ing the gaseous material and at least a third discharge conduit from said separation chamber for discharging the remaining portion of the liquid reaction product. 14. A device according to claim 12, which comprises a plurality of elements each comprising said housing, all of said means, said manifold, said reaction conduit, said recycle-and-mixing and said separation chamber and in which said device also comprises means for feed- ing in series into each elemem, except for the first of said elements, a mixture of liquid reagent and liquid re- action product, means for feeding the gaseous reagent in parallel to all elements except the first of said ele- ment and means for feeding to the first element said iq- uid reagent and the gaseous reagent obtained from the separation of the gaseous material in the separation chamber of the last element. * 4 2 x +