Proposals for the Use of Mixing and Cooling in the Production of Chlorinated Methanes
May 24th, 1965
Group II Report, ICI Central Instrument Research Lab.
S F Bush
Summary
- A stirred reactor system chlorinating methane would occupy a volume of about one-eighth that occupied by a system of uncooled static chlorinators, for the same output.
- For the same conversion of methane to methylene chloride and chloroform, the production of methyl chloride is lower in a stirred reactor than in one of the existing chlorinators. The production of carbon tetrachloride is only slightly higher.
- A stirred reactor controls the secondary C2 and soot forming reactions better than the existing chlorinators can. In a chlorinator system with intermediate injection of chlorine the tendency to these unwanted reactions will be somewhat enchanced in the methane chlorination compared with the methyl chloride chlorination.
- A stirred reactor, approximately one-sixth full-size is proposed, for erection at rocksavage, as a pilot plant for the chlorination of methane/methyl chloride mixtures. An outline design is appended.
- The product distribution in the stirred reactor rules out its use in place of the present system for chlorinating methyl chloride alone. It is estimated, however, that by redesign of the dip pipe and selective use of water cooling, the chlorinators could be modified to carry the envisaged increase in chloroform production, avoiding the erection of an additional chlorinator per train.
- In order to find the best design of static chlorinators for the chlorination of methyl chloride, a programme of experiments on a model chlorinator is proposed, the experiments to be carried out in about five months at CIRL.