Coupled Chemical Reactor/Distillation Column Experiment for Chemical Engineering Majors

利哈伊大学化学工程单元操作实验室正在建造一台新的实验仪器。该设备说明了在一个耦合的化学过程中各种设计和操作参数的影响：一个顶部安装了蒸馏塔的反应器。虽然蒸馏和反应过程已经很成熟，但耦合装置的设计和操作对化学工程本科生来说是一个新的和具有挑战性的问题。在适当的情况下，这种类型的反应精馏过程比解耦系统具有显著的优势：(1)通过蒸馏去除反应的一种产物，可以提高产率和转化率，减小反应器的尺寸；(2)通过利用反应热来产生用于塔中分离的蒸汽，可以降低能耗。该装置的主要部件是反应器和蒸馏塔，其他设备包括冷凝器、回流鼓、真空泵、控制阀、进料泵和回流泵，以及进料和产品的储罐。该实验用于化学工程本科学生的高级实验室，这是这些学生第一次接触到结合两个单元操作的复杂过程。因此，它提供了对化学反应器和蒸馏塔的设计和操作所涉及的基本原理的更深层次的理解，并说明了这两种操作之间有时明显或有时微妙的相互作用。

A new experimental apparatus is being constructed in the chemical engineering unit operations laboratory at Lehigh University. The equipment illustrates the effects of various design and operating parameters in a coupled chemical process: a reactor with a distillation column mounted on top. While distillation and reaction processes are well established, the design and operation of the coupled units represent a novel and challenging problem for chemical engineering undergraduates. When appropriate, this type of reactive distillation process has significant advantages over the decoupled system: (1) yields and conversions can be increased and reactor size reduced by removing one of the products of the reaction by distillation, and (2) energy consumption can be reduced by using the heat of reaction to generate vapor for the separation in the column. The major pieces of the apparatus are a reactor and distillation column, and other equipment include condenser, reflux drum, vacuum pumps, control valves, feed and reflux pumps, and tankage for feed and products. The experiment is used in a senior laboratory for undergraduate chemical engineering students, and is the first time that these students have been exposed to a complex process which combines two unit operations. Thus, it provides a deeper understanding of the underlying principles involved in the design and operation of both chemical reactors and distillation columns, and illustrates the sometimes obvious and the sometimes subtle interactions between these two operations.