In
this study, kilogram-scale synthesis of 2-ethylhexyl nitrate
in a microreactor was reported. Using Box–Behnken experimental
design, the effects of process parameters such as temperature, molar
ratio, total flow rate, and mass fraction of sulfuric acid on the
yield of the target product were systematically investigated. The
experimental design was studied at four factors and three levels.
The results revealed that the sulfuric acid mass fraction and temperature
significantly affected the yield of the product. There was a good
agreement between the experimental results and predicted results by
the proposed regression model. Subsequently, the mixing effect of
the liquid–liquid heterogeneous system in microreactor was
simulated by using computational fluid dynamics. The results provide
solid evidence that the microreactor has excellent mixing efficiency
in mass and heat transfer compared with the conventional reactor.
Consequently, based on the results of process parameter optimization,
an enlarged microreactor was designed to intensify the preparation
of 2-ethylhexyl nitrate by a throughput of 16 kg/h.