Toluene Methylation to Para-xylene: Experimental Investigation and Modeling of Fixed Packed Bed Reactor

To investigate the effect of operational parameter and transport phenomena on para-xylene production from toluene methylation with methanol, a fixed bed tubular reactor packed with Al-HMS-5 mesoporous catalyst was designed and fabricated. A mechanistic Longmuir-Hinshelwood type kinetic study has been implemented on a proposed reaction network based on experimental observation and theoretical background. Kinetic parameters and activation energy related to proposed reaction network for toluene methylation were evaluated using nonlinear regression and Arrhenius plot, respectively. In addition, heat transfer, fluid flow and chemical reactions equations consist of toluene methylation and xylene isomerization were solved using finite element method. In order to optimize toluene methylation process, reaction temperature and residence time were investigated. Finally, the residence time of 60 second and wall temperature of 425 K were recommended.

کلیدواژه ها:

Para-xylene production ، Toluene methylation ، Al-HMS-5 catalyst ، Fixed bed reactor