Process for Carrying Out Gas/Liquid Reactions

This invention relates to a process for carrying out gas/liquid reactions in downstream reactors with large gas/liquid proportions by volume.

Gas/liquid reactors often used in industry include bubble columns which are distinguished by an especially simple construction. In a reaction of this type, the gas is distributed in the liquid in the form of bubbles with the aid of aerating means, such as sinter plates or nozzles. By conducting the gas/liquid mixture in downward direction, the residence time can be prolonged. For this purpose, the gas is introduced at the head of the reactor column and by the flow of the liquid it is drafted towards the bottom together with the liquid. With the known mode of downward drafting of the gas/liquid mixture, the utilization of the gas is often insufficient so that the gas or the liquid must be recycled to the head of the column. For recirculation, either an external circuit is used or the respective components are passed through an internal loop, for example as proposed in DE-AS No. 1,957,160. For gassing, the liquid is generally passed at a high speed over the gas inlet openings.

It is the objective of the present invention to gas or aerate the downward flowing liquid under such conditions that the gas has reacted to the technologically desired extent with a single passage through the reactor.

The invention, therefore, provides a process for carrying out gas/liquid reactions in downstream reactors, which comprises injecting gas having a bubble diameter of from 0.1 to 4 mm, at most, however, 10 mm, into a liquid flowing in the downward direction at an empty tube speed of 0.14 m/s to 0.5 m/s, especially 0.2 to 0.5 m/s, the proportion by volume of liquid to gas being greater than 8:1 and the residence time of the gas being at least 6 seconds per meter of reactor length.

The main advantage achieved by the process of the invention is the uniform distribution of the gas over the cross sectional area of the column with low liquid velocities. In this manner, reductions of the cross sectional area which result in a much faster flow of the liquid and require more energy are unnecessary. A further advantage of the aeration of a large flow cross section according to the invention is that at the point of gas supply, the flow of the liquid is slow and, therefore, the residence time of the gas is rather long.

The following examples illustrate the invention.

The efficiency of the process according to the invention is demonstrated by the hydrolysis of phosgene. The reactor used consisted of a glass column having an internal diameter of 150 mm and a length of 2,000 mm. The column was immersed in a container serving as gas/liquid separator. The gas was distributed in water at the head of the reactor over 4 frits in radial position. The gas/liquid mixture containing 22% by volume of gas was conveyed downward to the reactor outlet. The introduced gas consisted of 108 l/hr of COCl.sub.2 and 322 l/hr of air under normal conditions. The gas bubbles had a diameter in the range of from 4 to 6 mm. The empty tube speed of the liquid was 23 cm/sec. The proportion by volume of liquid to gas was 34:1 and the mean residence time of the gas was 25 seconds per meter of reactor length. In the gas space of the gas/liquid separator, an absolute pressure of 1.2 bar prevailed. The water has a temperature of 23.degree. C. The inlet concentration of phosgene in air of 25% by volume could be reduced to a final concentration of less than 0.1 ppm at the reactor outlet. A recirculation of the gas and the liquid to the head of the column could be dispensed with.

To illustrate the good gas distribution and the resulting high degree of gas utilization by the process of the invention, the absorption of nitrous gases in water was determined under comparable conditions in a downstream reactor having a nominal width of 30 mm and a second downstream reactor with a nominal width of 150 mm. The reactor columns consisted of glass tubes having a length of 2,000 mm, each provided with 4 sinter plates at the side of the head, the outer edges of which were flush with the inner reactor wall so that no aeration element projected into the reactor and the cross section was not diminished. Each reactor column was immersed in a container mounted at the lower end to serve as gas/liquid separator. The degassed liquid was recirculated to the reactor head with the aid of a pump.

This example shows that in using a reactor cross sectional area which was larger by a factor of 25, the absorption of nitrous gases in water by the process of the invention is effective and unchanged.