Hydrogenation of m-nitrochlorobenzene to m-chloroaniline: reaction kinetics and modeling of a non-isothermal slurry reactor

Abstract

The kinetics of hydrogenation of m-nitrochlorobenzene to m-chloroaniline was investigated using sulfided Pt on carbon catalyst in a stirred slurry reactor in a temperature range of 313-363 K. The initial rate data were analyzed to ascertain the importance of mass-transfer effects, from which it was found that gas-liquid mass-transfer resistance was important at 353 and 363 K. A Langmuir-Hinshelwood type rate model has been proposed on the basis of the data in the kinetic regime (313-333 K). In order to verify the applicability of the kinetic model over a wide range of conditions, a semibatch reactor model under isothermal conditions was proposed and the predicted concentration vs time profiles were compared with the experimental results, which showed excellent agreement. A semibatch reactor model under non-isothermal conditions has also been developed, which can predict the temperature and the concentrations of reactant and product as a function time. These predictions were also verified with the experimentally observed temperature and concentration vs time profiles under non-isothermal conditions, which showed good agreement.