As part of the development of a liquid-phase cyclohexane oxydatlon process, various aspects of the reactor design have been investigated: fundamental research on the influence of mass-transfer phenomena on reaction selectivity, laboratory and development research on the use of boric acid as a coreagent, and hydrodynamic research to determine the optimum reactor configuration. First a simplified reaction scheme was established which led to a not too complicated mathematical model. This model was not available at the time when the pilot plant began operating. Therefore a further simplified model was adopted, so that the results of a one-reactor stage pilot plant enabled the design of a multistage industrial unit. These two approaches compared favorably and the industrial construction proved also to conform to forecasts.

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