Absorption and reaction of isobutene in sulfuric acid—I: The effect of tert-butanol on the absorption rate in a bubble column

✍ Scribed by Milan Popovič; Wolf-Dieter Deckwer

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1975
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 694 KB
• Volume: 30
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0009-2509
• DOI: 10.1016/0009-2509(75)80057-1

✦ Synopsis

The absorption and reaction of isobutene in sulfuric acid yielding tert-butanol was studied in a bubble column of 4.6 cm diameter and 105 cm length. The inlet concentration of acid was varied from 28.5 to 56.9 wt%. A simple absorption model was used which shows that the absorption rate depends on the parameter group (&a/H). From steady state and transient experiments the influence of tert-butanol on this group was determined. At low concentrations of tert-butanol the increase of (&a/H) is mainly due to the increase of the specific interfacial area a, which was obtained by taking photographs. Whereas at high concentrations of tert-butanol (> 1.8 g-mole/l) (La/H) is increased probably since the solubility of isobutene increases nonlinearly. The highest absorption rate was obtained with an inlet concentration of acid of 46.6 wt%. This agrees well with the feed concentration applied in the industrial process.