Group II Research Note, ICI Central Instrument Research Lab.
S F Bush with P A Sinclair
Summary
An important method of manufacture of 1.1.1.-trichloroethane proposed by Mond Division is the vapour-phase chlorination of 1.1.-dichloroethane made from liquid-phase hydrochlorination of VC,
CH2 = CHCl + HCl → fast → CH3.CHCl2.
For this process the organic feed is conveniently brought to a preferred reaction temperature of 400-410 oC by mixing with reacted product, the whole to run autothermally. Factors limiting design on the 25,000 tons per year scale are (a) the stability of the reaction to external disturbances, particularly flow disturbances and (b) the difficulty of ensuring that the preferred steady reaction temperature can be sustained even with no flow disturbances.
The theory and models worked out for the chloromethanes process have been applied to this proposed new process with a view to (a) predicting if a process based on a chloremethanes-type reactor would be satisfactory on the scale proposed, and (b) if so, what size should the semi-technical reactor be to give adequate experimental proof of the design and the control scheme. The intricate programming and many attendant calculations have been carried out by P A Sinclair.
This note gives an interim account of the conclusions reached in this study, which is continuing, and which has involved several recomputations from changed kinetic data.
See also the section on Development of new Products and Processes.