Monday, November 5, 2007 - 9:36 AM
38d

Microchannel Reactor System For An Acid-Catalyzed Cycloaddition Reaction Involving Two Immiscible Liquid Phases

Obiefuna C. Okafor1, Adeniyi Lawal1, Dongying Qian1, Puvin Pichai2, and Geatesh Tampy2. (1) Chemical, Biomedical and Materials Engineering Department, Stevens Institute of Technology, 1 Castle Point on Hudson, Hoboken, NJ 07030, (2) Research and Development, International Flavors & Fragrances Inc., 1515 State Highway 36, Union Beach, NJ 07735

In this work, the addition-cyclization reaction involving two immiscible liquid phases has been investigated in a microchannel reactor system. The reaction involves two organic reactants, catalyzed by an inorganic acid. This reaction is conventionally carried out in the semi-batch reactor, where mass transfer limitations can lead to the formation of a variety of structural isomers and other by-products. Also, good mixing in the batch reactor is critical for the high yield and selectivity of the desired product. Microreactor technology provides enhanced heat and mass transfer due to high surface-to-volume ratio. In this study, the performance of the microreactor system was evaluated by studying the effect of different operating conditions on the space-time yield, conversion, yield, and selectivity of the product. Experiments were also conducted in the batch reactor for comparison of its performance to that of the microreactor.