This paper reports the suitability of a multipoint injection
continuous
flow reactor for carrying out a sequential reaction, while taking
into account the associated hydrodynamics of such systems. Pressure
drop was measured for different fluid injection patterns, viz., equal
fluid dosing, decreasing dosing, and increasing dosing flow rates
from the first to the last inlet. Moreover, residence time distribution
was also explored. The data were compared with a conventional single-point
injection. The extent of dispersion was found to be higher in the
decreasing dosing profile compared to equally distributed dosing.
Taking into account of these features, the suitability of such a reactor
system for competitive-consecutive homogeneous nitration reaction
was evaluated. The analysis was done on the basis of the Damkohler
number (Da) for mixing and reaction. The rate-controlling
phenomena were used to simulate the performance of the reactor for
a range of a number of inlets, the mole ratio of reactants, and relative
values of Da. The observations indicate that the
multipoint injection is not beneficial for mixing controlled reactions.
However, for reactions in the transient regime (i.e., 0.001 < t
m/t
R < 1000),
it gives higher selectivity of the desired product.