A Study on the Liquid Phase Oxidation of Toluene By Pure Oxygen in a Mini-Channel Reactor

Effectiveness and safety are two important and crucial problems in hydrocarbon oxidation. The liquid phase oxidation of toluene by pure oxygen was conducted in a mini-channel reactor in order to improve the operation safety and the reaction effectiveness. The effects of the experimental parameters such as temperature, catalyst, initiator, pressure, gas flow rate and liquid flow rate on the conversion of toluene and the yield of oxidation product were systematically investigated. In the mini-channel reactor, a toluene conversion of approximate 5.7 m% and benzoic acid yield of approximate 4.4 m% were obtained under the conditions: 165 ℃, 0.9 MPa, 0.15 m% of catalyst and 1.0 m% of initiator in the liquid reactants, 0.15 Nl/min of oxygen flow rate and 53.3 ml/h of toluene flow rate. A drift flux model was employed to simulate the flow characteristics of oxygen and toluene in the mini-channel. The results showed that the reaction was greatly influenced by the two-phase flow characteristics.