Nitration of toluene in a microreactor

Raghunath Halder, Woo Lee, Adeniyi Lawal, Reddy Damavarapu

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

Abstract

Highly exothermic reactions such as aromatic nitration can be carried out in a highly efficient manner in microreactors due to the high heat and mass transfer rates. In this study, nitration of toluene was conducted in a microreactor immersed in a constant temperature bath using concentrated nitric acid as the nitrating agent. The effects of residence time, reaction temperature, and acid strength etc. on the reactor performance were studied. The results indicate that in the microreactor the nitration reaction proceeds fast, even without sulfuric acid, probably by self-protonation of nitric acid. Also, no by-products were detected. The isomeric distribution of the product nitrotoluenes was found to be identical to that generally found in the mixed-acid nitration. The results were compared with the data obtained from a batch reactor, and the microreactor reaction rates were much higher than the batch reactor rates.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationTopical Conference on Applications of Micro-Reactor Engineering 2006, Held at the 2006 AIChE Spring National Meeting
Pages34-42
Number of pages9
ISBN (Electronic)9781604235258
StatePublished - 2006
EventTopical Conference on Applications of Micro-Reactor Engineering 2006, Held at the 2006 AIChE Spring National Meeting - Orlando, United States
Duration: 23 Apr 200627 Apr 2006

Publication series

NameTopical Conference on Applications of Micro-Reactor Engineering 2006, Held at the 2006 AIChE Spring National Meeting

Conference

ConferenceTopical Conference on Applications of Micro-Reactor Engineering 2006, Held at the 2006 AIChE Spring National Meeting
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityOrlando
Period23/04/0627/04/06

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Nitration of toluene in a microreactor'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this