Aromatics Reactor

Abstract

The present invention relates to an aromatic compound reactor, and the aromatic compound reactor of the present invention is an aromatic compound reactor in which a mixing member is installed inside the aromatic compound reactor so that the reactants are uniformly dispersed, thereby increasing the flow rate of the reactants, improving the degree of mixing between materials, and increasing the mixing efficiency between the reactants. The aromatic compound reactor can also weaken the reaction zone at the bottom of the reactor, thereby improving the selectivity of the reactants, and thus improving the productivity and yield of the reactants.

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to an apparatus for improving the reactivity of aromatic compounds, and more particularly to an aromatic compound reactor capable of increasing the mixing efficiency of reactants and enhancing the selectivity of reactants. [Background technology]

[0002] Toluene, a type of aromatic compound, can be chlorinated by reaction with chlorine to produce o-chlorotoluene and p-chlorotoluene. In the reactor where this chlorination reaction occurs, gaseous chlorine is introduced through a sparger placed inside the reactor, and a portion of the reaction liquid containing toluene is injected through a nozzle at the bottom of the reactor to cause a reaction.

[0003] In a reactor having such a structure, a channeling phenomenon occurs during the reaction of the reaction solution containing toluene, which is an aromatic compound, with chlorine, or the degree of mixing between materials is very poor, resulting in low reaction efficiency.

[0004] Previously, Korean Patent Publication No. 10-1196278 ("Gas Distributor for Reactor", November 6, 2011, hereinafter "Prior Document") disclosed a supply pipe system for supplying reactants from the bottom of a reactor to a sparger through a distribution system arranged above the sparger of a sparger system for a reactor. In addition, the system is configured with a device in which liquid is sprayed through a spray nozzle outside the reactor. However, such a reactor has a problem in that the degree of mixing is not good during the process in which the reactants and gas are mixed, resulting in a decrease in mixing efficiency. Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0005] Therefore, the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, and aims to provide an aromatics reactor which is equipped with a mixing element inside the aromatics reactor so that the reactants are uniformly distributed, instead of feeding the reactants through a nozzle at the bottom of the conventional aromatics reactor. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] The aromatic compound reactor of the present invention is characterized in that it includes a reactor in which a reaction space is formed inside, a plurality of reactant distributors that are arranged at a lower part of the reactor at a distance from each other and formed in a flow path form to supply reactants to the reaction space through both ends, at least one reactant liquid injector that is formed as a through hole and arranged between the plurality of reactant distributors to supply a reactant to the reaction space, and a mixing member that is provided in the reactant liquid injector and disperses the reactant liquid in the reaction space by using a swirling flow induced therein. Effect of the Invention

[0007] According to the present invention, by configuring a mixing member in a reactor, the average flow rate of reactants injected into the reactor can be increased, thereby minimizing back mixing of reactants.

[0008] Furthermore, by providing a mixing member in the reactor, the flow rate of the reactants can be increased, and the degree of mixing between the substances can be improved, resulting in an effect of increasing the mixing efficiency between the reactants.

[0009] Furthermore, by providing a mixing element within the reactor, the unreacted zone at the bottom of the reactor can be weakened, which has the effect of improving the selectivity of the reactants. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0010] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a front view and a bottom view of a conventional aromatic compound reactor. [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing a side view and a bottom view of an aromatic compound reactor of the present invention. [Diagram 3] FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the shape and structure of a mixing element installed in an aromatic compound reactor according to Example 2 of the present invention. [Figure 4] 1 is a table showing the effect of increasing the linear velocity and dispersion in the flow direction of toluene introduced from the bottom of a reactor by installing a mixing element of the present invention, and the effect of improving the degree of catalyst mixing thereby. [Diagram 5] 1 is a table showing a simulation of the unreacted section at the bottom of the reactor according to the present invention. [Figure 6] 1A is a graph showing the uniformity of the catalyst (FeCl3) of the present invention, and FIG. 1B is a graph showing the standard deviation of the catalyst (FeCl3) of the present invention. [Figure 7] 1 is a table showing a simulation of the catalyst deposition phenomenon of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0011] To achieve the above-mentioned object, the aromatic compound of the present invention includes a reactor 100 having a reaction space formed therein, a plurality of reactant distributors 200 arranged at a distance from each other at the bottom of the reactor 100, formed in the form of a flow channel, and supplying reactants to the reaction space through both ends, at least one reactant injector 300 formed as a through hole and arranged between the plurality of reactant distributors 200 to supply a reactant to the reaction space, and a mixing member 400 provided in the reactant injector 300 and dispersing the reactant in the reaction space using a swirling flow induced therein.

[0012] Furthermore, in the aromatic compound reactor, the reaction liquid supplied to the reaction liquid injector and the reactant in the reactant distributor can be dispersed by the mixing member.

[0013] Additionally, the reactants provided to the reactant distributor 200 can be gases or liquids.

[0014] Furthermore, the mixing member 400 may be formed such that the distance from the lower bottom surface of the reactor 100 to the lower bottom surface of the mixing member 400 is within a range of 0.008 to 0.02h, where h is the height of the reactor 100.

[0015] Furthermore, the reactant distributor 200 may be formed such that the distance from the top of the mixing member 400 to the center of the reactant distributor 200 is within a range of 0.1 to 0.4h, where h is the height of the reactor 100.

[0016] Furthermore, the mixing member 400 may include a hub 410 connected to a center of the mixing member 400, a fan 420 including a plurality of blades 421 formed on an outer circumferential surface of the hub 410, a peripheral portion 430 surrounding the outer circumferential portion 430 of the fan 420, and an impact portion 440 formed in the center of the peripheral portion 430 against which the injected reaction liquid collides.

[0017] Furthermore, the blade 421 can be configured so that the reaction liquid injected from the reaction liquid injection section 300 and colliding with the impact section 440 can be dispersed in the reaction space by a swirling flow caused by the blade 421.

[0018] Furthermore, the thickness of the blade 421 can be 0.6 to 1.0t, where t is the thickness of the mixing member 400.

[0019] Furthermore, the reactant injector 300 may be connected to an external reactant supply unit in the form of a nozzle.

[0020] Additionally, the multiple reactant distributors 200 can be in communication with an external reactant supply.

[0021] The present invention relates to an aromatic compound reactor, and the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings and examples and comparative examples.

[0022] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing the front and bottom views of a conventional aromatic compound reactor.

[0023] As shown in Fig. 1, in the conventional aromatic compound reactor, a part of the reaction liquid containing aromatic compounds is injected through a nozzle at the bottom of the reactor. However, there is a problem that the reaction liquid is not mixed with the reaction gas, and a channeling phenomenon occurs, which can seriously deteriorate the degree of mixing between the materials.

[0024] Therefore, in the present invention, as shown in FIG. 2, a mixing member 400 is provided on the upper part of the nozzle at the bottom of the reactor 100, and the mixing member 400 is optimized in design to reduce the drift phenomenon inside the reactor 100 and increase the average flow velocity, thereby minimizing backmixing in the reactor 100.

[0025] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram 1000 showing a side and bottom view of an aromatics reactor of the present invention.

[0026] The reactor 100 may have a reaction space formed therein.

[0027] Further, a plurality of reactant distributors 200 may be disposed at a distance from each other in the lower portion of the reactor 100, and may be formed in the form of a channel to supply reactants to the reaction space through both ends.

[0028] Here, the plurality of reactant distributors 200 can be in communication with an external reactant supply unit.

[0029] Further, the reactant distributor 200 may be formed such that the distance from the top of the mixing member 400 to the center of the reactant distributor 200 is within a range of 0.1 to 0.4h, where h is the height of the reactor 100.

[0030] Furthermore, at least one reactant injector 300 is disposed between the reactant distributors 200, and can supply reactant to the reaction space.

[0031] Here, the reactant injector 300 may be connected to an external reactant supply unit in the form of a nozzle.

[0032] Furthermore, the mixing member 400 is provided in the reaction liquid injecting section 300, and the reaction liquid can be dispersed in the reaction space by using a swirling flow formed by the blades 421 formed in the mixing member 400.

[0033] Therefore, the aromatic compound reactor 100 having such a structure has an effect that the reaction liquid supplied to the reaction liquid injector 300 and the reactant in the reactant distributor 200 are dispersed in the reaction space by the swirling flow caused by the blades 421 configured in the mixing member 400.

[0034] Furthermore, the reactant supplied to the reactant injector 300 and the reactant in the reactant distributor 200 are dispersed by the mixing member 400, which has the effect of dispersing the reactant.

[0035] Here, the reactants supplied to the reactant distributor 200 may be supplied in the form of gas or liquid.

[0036] FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the shape and structure of a mixing element installed in an aromatic compound reactor according to Example 2 of the present invention.

[0037] A hub 410 may be attached to the center of the mixing member 400 .

[0038] The fan 420 may include a number of blades 421 formed on the outer circumferential surface of the hub.

[0039] Additionally, the exterior of the fan 420 may be surrounded by a periphery 430 .

[0040] The impact part 440 is formed at the center of the peripheral part 430, and the injected reactant collides with the impact part 440 to disperse the reactants.

[0041] Furthermore, the blade 421 may be disposed toward the bottom of the reaction liquid injector 300. Therefore, the reaction liquid injected from the reaction liquid injector 300 collides with the impactor 440, and is dispersed by the swirling flow caused by the blade 421.

[0042] Furthermore, here, the thickness of the blade 421 can be 0.6 to 1.0t, where t is the thickness of the mixing member.

[0043] Further, here, the mixing member may be formed such that the distance from the lower bottom surface of the reactor 100 to the lower bottom surface of the mixing member 400 is within a range of 0.008 to 0.02h, where h is the height of the reactor.

[0044] FIG. 4 is a table showing the effect of increasing the linear velocity and dispersion in the flow direction of toluene introduced into the bottom of the reactor by installing the mixing member 400 of the present invention, and the improvement of the degree of catalyst mixing due to the effect.

[0045] As shown in FIG. 4, the amount of unreacted catalyst depending on the arrangement length from the bottom of the reactor to the top of the mixing member 400 and the height of the mixing member 400 is shown as a comparative example and an experimental example.

[0046] (Comparative Example) The reaction liquid was injected through the nozzle of the reaction liquid injection section 300 .

[0047] Example 1 The mixing member 400 having no blade 421 at the top was attached to the reaction liquid injecting part 300, and the reaction liquid was injected.

[0048] Furthermore, the placement distance from the lower bottom of the reactor to the top of the mixing member 400 was 35 mm, and the height of the mixing member 400 was 5 mm.

[0049] Example 2 A mixing member 400 having blades 421 formed on the outer circumferential surface of a hub 410 was attached to the reaction liquid injecting section 300, and the reaction liquid was injected.

[0050] Furthermore, the placement distance from the lower bottom of the reactor to the top of the mixing member 400 was 35 mm, and the height of the mixing member 400 was 5 mm.

[0051] As shown in FIG. 4, in the comparative example, the amount of unreacted catalyst was 100%, indicating that no reaction took place at all, whereas in Example 1 it was 89.2%, and in Example 2 it was 87.4%, indicating that the amount of unreacted catalyst in Example 2 was significantly reduced compared to the comparative example and Example 1.

[0052] FIG. 5 is a table showing a simulation of the unreacted section at the bottom of the reactor of the present invention, and a diagram showing a simulation of the unreacted section at the bottom of the reactor by fluid dynamics (CFD).

[0053] In the simulation of the unreacted section at the lower end of the reactor in FIG. 5, a mixing element 400 including multiple blades 421 was included, the placement distance from the bottom of the reactor to the top of the mixing element 400 was 35 mm, and the height of the mixing element 400 was 5 mm.

[0054] Generally, reactions of aromatic compounds are experimented in two phases of toluene and chlorine gas. In the present invention, however, in order to perform a detailed simulation of the lower end of the reactor, the phase was changed to one phase and a fluid analysis was performed by simulation.

[0055] The flow model used in the analysis uses a mixing element 400 consisting of nine blades 421. Since the section in which the chlorination reaction actually takes place is expected to be the 30-70 cm section above the reactant distributor 200, in the simulation of the present invention, the analysis section was set to be up to a 30 cm section based on the reactor tangent line.

[0056] In the reactor lower end analysis model, a simulation was performed in which toluene and catalyst iron chloride (FeCl3) flow in from the nozzle of the reaction liquid injector 300, mix at the bottom of the reactor lower end, and settle. In reality, iron chloride (FeCl3) is dissolved in toluene and does not settle in a solid state, but in order to grasp the unreacted area in the fluid analysis, the simulation was performed and the fluid analysis was performed under the assumption that iron chloride (FeCl3) settles in a solid state.

[0057] As shown in the comparative example of FIG. 5, it can be seen that the drift phenomenon was observed in the conventional reactor.

[0058] In order to improve this drift phenomenon, a structure of the mixing element 400 was devised to disperse the flow at the bottom of the reactor. In order to perform further detailed simulations on this, a mixing element 400 without a blade 421 and a mixing element 400 with multiple blades 421 were devised and used in the embodiments.

[0059] 5, it can be seen that the drift phenomenon is completely eliminated compared to the conventional reactor, regardless of the shape of the mixing member 400. This phenomenon can be determined to be the influence of the dispersion effect of the flow at the bottom of the reactor according to the analysis result of the velocity vector.

[0060] Furthermore, Fig. 6(a) is a graph showing the uniformity of the catalyst (FeCl3) of the present invention, and Fig. 6(b) is a graph showing the standard deviation of the catalyst (FeCl3) of the present invention. As shown in Fig. 6(a) and Fig. 6(b), when five planes are designated in the height direction of the reactor and the distribution uniformity of iron chloride (FeCl3) is compared, it can be seen that the catalyst distribution uniformity is improved by more than 20%.

[0061] Furthermore, depending on the configuration of the mixing element 400, in the case of a mixing element 400 that does not include a blade 421, the fluid differential pressure increases by 32% compared to a conventional reactor, and in the case of a mixing element 400 that includes multiple or more blades 421, the fluid differential pressure increases by 8%. Reflecting these results, the mixing element 400 that includes multiple or more blades 421 was determined to be an improvement proposal, and additional simulations were performed.

[0062] FIG. 7 is a table showing a simulation of the catalyst deposition phenomenon of the present invention, and is a diagram showing a simulation of the catalyst deposition phenomenon at the bottom of a reactor by fluid dynamics (CFD).

[0063] In order to investigate the degree of catalyst dispersion and the possibility of local stagnation of catalyst that does not participate in the reaction locally in the actual reactor, the catalyst was set as a particle with a certain diameter and a simulation was performed using two-phase analysis. Here, although the actual reaction is dissolved and there is one phase, it was configured as two phases for the progress and analysis of the simulation.

[0064] The actual catalyst loading in the reactor was 300 ppm, the volume fraction in the initial condition was assumed to be 0.0001, and the diameter of the iron chloride (FeCl3) was set to about 50 μm.

[0065] Furthermore, the flow rate conditions of the inlet reactant were changed according to the change in the flow rate conditions, and the deposition pattern was confirmed.

[0066] Referring to the comparative example of FIG. 7, in the case of the mixing element 400 not including the blades 421, the iron chloride (FeCl3) catalyst that was introduced flows upward in a strong flow formed toward the center of the reactor along with the flow of toluene, and is then transferred to the flow from the top of the reactor to the wall side, and it was confirmed that most of the catalyst is simulated to be deposited at the bottom of the reactor and on the top of the reactant distributor.

[0067] Referring to Examples 1 to 3 in FIG. 7, in the case of the improvement by the configuration of the mixing member 400 including a plurality of blades 421, the iron chloride (FeCl3) catalyst was simulated without deposition due to the dispersion effect of the flow at the bottom of the reactor, and the amount of unreacted catalyst was improved.

[0068] Therefore, by installing a mixing member inside the aromatic compound reactor of the present invention so that the reactants are uniformly dispersed in the aromatic compound reactor, the catalyst circulation flow rate at the bottom of the reactor can be increased.

[0069] In addition, by installing a mixing member inside the aromatic reactor of the present invention to ensure uniform dispersion of the reactants in the aromatic reactor, the amount of catalyst deposition added to the reactants can be reduced. [Industrial Applicability]

[0070] The aromatic compound reactor of the present invention provides a technology that can uniformly disperse reactants by installing a mixing member inside the aromatic compound reactor, increase the mixing efficiency of the reactants, improve the selectivity of the reactants, and reduce the amount of catalyst deposition added to the reactants, thereby improving the productivity and yield of the reactants.

Claims

1. A reactor in which a reaction space is formed; a plurality of reactant distributors each disposed at a lower portion of the reactor and formed in a channel shape to supply reactants to the reaction space through both ends; At least one reaction liquid injector formed as a through hole and disposed between a plurality of the reactant distributors, for supplying a reaction liquid to the reaction space; a mixing member provided in the reaction liquid injecting section, for dispersing the reaction liquid in the reaction space by using a swirling flow induced therein.

2. The aromatic compound reactor comprises:

2. The aromatic compound reactor according to claim 1, wherein the reaction liquid supplied to the reaction liquid injector and the reactant in the reactant distributor are dispersed by the mixing member.

3. The reactants fed to the reactant distributor are 3. The aromatics reactor according to claim 2, characterized in that it is gaseous or liquid.

4. The mixing member is When the height of the reactor is h, 2. The reactor for aromatic compounds according to claim 1, wherein the distance from the bottom surface of the reactor to the bottom surface of the mixing member is within a range of 0.008 to 0.02 h.

5. The reactant distributor comprises: When the height of the reactor is h, 2. The aromatic compound reactor according to claim 1, wherein the distance from the top of the mixing element to the center of the reactant distributor is within the range of 0.1 to 0.4 h.

6. The mixing member is a hub coupled to a rotating shaft of the mixing element; a fan including a plurality of blades formed on an outer peripheral surface of the hub; A peripheral portion surrounding an outer periphery of the fan; 2. The aromatic compound reactor according to claim 1, further comprising an impact part formed at the center of the peripheral part, against which the injected reaction liquid impacts.

7. The blade is 7. The aromatic compound reactor according to claim 6, wherein the reaction liquid injected from the reaction liquid injection part and colliding with the impact part is dispersed in the reaction space by the swirling flow caused by the blades.

8. The thickness of the blade is 8. The aromatic compound reactor according to claim 7, wherein the thickness of the mixing member is 0.6 to 1.0 t.

9. The reaction liquid injection part is 3. The reactor for aromatic compounds according to claim 2, which is connected to an external reaction liquid supply unit in the form of a nozzle.

10. The plurality of reactant distributors include 3. The aromatic compound reactor according to claim 2, which is in communication with an external reaction liquid supply section.

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