Jet Loop Reactor-Intensified CO₂ Utilization: An Efficient Strategy for the Synthesis of Ethylene Carbonate

Abstract

Utilizing CO2 to produce ethylene carbonate (EC) is highly significant in terms of both reducing CO2 emissions and acquiring fine chemicals. The gas–liquid mixture mass transfer in this process is critical for transformation efficiency and safety; however, the efficient strategy to intensify this mass transfer is limited. In this study, a jet loop reactor (JLR) is employed for the mass-transfer intensification of liquid–gas phases in the production of EC from the cycloaddition of CO2 and ethylene oxide. The effect of the JLR’s structure, mainly the size of the spray nozzle, on mass transfer intensification is investigated to determine the optimal working conditions. Additionally, the influence of reaction conditions on the transformation efficiency is investigated using in situ infrared spectroscopy, thus achieving rapid transformation of this cycloaddition under low CO2 pressures. Notably, the JLR exhibits an efficiency over three times higher than that of the stirred tank reactor, demonstrating its superior advantage in facilitating gas–liquid mixture mass transfer. Furthermore, a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation of the reactor demonstrated its working process. The well-matched experimental and simulated results suggest the high potential of CFD in evaluating the efficiency of the JLR, which can serve as a basis for the structural design of the ejector.