Methanol → Styrene

Participants

Reaction Steps

The reactor was designed as a plug flow reactor, PFR. It was sized for a 1 mol/h flow of styrene in a feed mixture containing 0.35 mass fraction of styrene in xylene. FIG. 5 is a schematic representation of the 2-stage plug flow reactor apparatus 400 for methanol styrene ether synthesis. Table 1 shows the operating parameters of a first reactor 402 (labelled PFR1) and a second reactor 404 (labelled PFR2). The column is designed to operate at a pressure of 4 atm and a temperature of 100° C. A liquid feed 406 comprising styrene in xylene is mixed with the stoichiometric amount of methanol 408 equivalent to that of styrene before feeding into first reactor 402. The effluent 410 from first reactor 402 is mixed with an additional same amount of methanol 408 before feeding into second reactor 404. The effluent 412 from the second reactor 404 is mainly the corresponding styrene ether. Thus the overall feed ratio of methanol to styrene for the process was 2:1. FIG. 6 shows the liquid composition profile along the length of first reactor 402. It can be seen that equilibrium composition was obtained at 0.6 m from the reactor entrance. Table 2 is a stream summary for first reactor 402 (labelled PFR1) and second reactor 404 (labelled PFR2). Styrene conversion in first reactor 402 was 78.2% and the conversion in second reactor 404 of the residual styrene from first reactor 402 was 73.5%, for an overall styrene conversion of 94.2% to form the corresponding methanol-styrene ether 408. Thus with one reactor and methanol to styrene ratio of one, there was 78.2% conversion. By adding a second equivalent amount of methanol into the feed to the second reactor, the overall conversion for styrene was 94%.

Provenance & Evidence