Radiotracer investigation on the measurement of residence time distribution in an ethyl acetate reactor system with a large recycle ratio

Arghya Datta; Raj Kumar Gupta; Sunil Goswami; Vijay Kumar Sharma; Haripada Bhunia; Damandeep Singh; Harish Jagat Pant

doi:10.1016/j.apradiso.2017.09.039

Radiotracer investigation on the measurement of residence time distribution in an ethyl acetate reactor system with a large recycle ratio

Appl Radiat Isot. 2017 Dec:130:245-251. doi: 10.1016/j.apradiso.2017.09.039. Epub 2017 Sep 25.

Authors

Arghya Datta¹, Raj Kumar Gupta¹, Sunil Goswami², Vijay Kumar Sharma², Haripada Bhunia¹, Damandeep Singh³, Harish Jagat Pant⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemical Engineering, Thapar University, Patiala, Punjab 147001, India.
² Isotope and Radiation Application Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai 400085, India.
³ IOL Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals Limited, Barnala, India.
⁴ Isotope and Radiation Application Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai 400085, India. Electronic address: hjpant@barc.gov.in.

PMID: 29035783
DOI: 10.1016/j.apradiso.2017.09.039

Abstract

A radiotracer investigation was carried out on the measurement of residence time distribution (RTD) of process fluid in an industrial-scale ethyl acetate reactor system, which consists of two independent reactors with recirculation and connected in series with each other. Bromine-82 as ammonium bromide was used as the radiotracer for the RTD experiments at different operating conditions. The individual reactors and the overall reactor system were modelled using physically representative phenomenological models comprising of continuously stirred tank reactors (CSTRs). The results showed that the recirculation rate considerably affected the flow mixing behaviour and mean residence time of the process fluid in the reactor system. The results also showed that there was bypassing of the fluid in the first reactor that ranged from 12% to 22% and 40% dead volume at different operating conditions, whereas the second reactor behaved closely as an ideal CSTR. The results of the investigation can be used to optimise the process parameters and design new improved reactor systems for the production of ethyl acetate.

Keywords: Bromine-82; Bypassing; Continuously stirred tank reactor; Ethyl acetate reactor; Mean residence time; Radiotracer; Residence time distribution; Stagnant volume.