Introduction

Acetone, also known as propane is a colorless liquid with a unique taste and odor (Bull, S.,
2010). It falls under the categorizing of ketones, which are organic compounds containing a
carbonyl group bonded to two hydrocarbon groups. It is a magnificent solvent for a wide
range of industrial materials including gums, waxes, dyestuffs and cellulosics (Dworkin, M.,
& Falkow, S., 2006). Most of the worlds acetone is obtained as a co-product of phenol
production by the cumene process.
The cumene-phenol process is the main source of acetone. In the past, there has been a
inadequacy of acetone, and it would have been uneconomic to satisfy acetone demand by the
accumulation of unsealeable phenol. The alternative route is where petrochemical is used to
to synthesis acetone. It was the first which have been pioneered by Exxon (Wittcoff, H., &
Reuben, B. G., 1996).

Chemical reactors are vessels designed to contain chemical reactions. It is the site of
conversion of raw materials into products and is also called the heart of a chemical process.
The design of a chemical reactor where bulk drugs would be synthesized on a commercial
scale would depend on multiple aspects of chemical engineering. Reactors are designed based
on features like mode of operation or types of phases present or the geometry of reactors.
Basically there are two main types of reactor; 1) batch and 2) continuous.

Batch reactors are normally used for most of the reactions carried out in a laboratory.
This procedure is also carried out in industry but usually in small scale products. An
alternative to a batch process is to feed the reactants continuously into the reactor at one
point, allowing the reaction to take place and withdraw the products at another point (CIEC,
2013). Some of common continuous reactors are Continuous Stirred Tank Reactor (CSTR),
Tubular Reactor, Fixed Bed Reactor (FBR) and Plug Flow Reactor (PFR).

In this case of acetone production, Plug Flow Reactor was chosen as acetone discharge as

product in vapor phase. PFR is applied when the reactions are in large scale, continuous
production and homogeneous and heterogeneous reactions. The reaction started with
isopropyl alcohol in liquid phase is fed in the inlet stream, where it undergoes catalytic
hydrogenation to acetone. The reactor exit gases consists of acetone, water, hydrogen and
unreacted isopropyl alcohol where they will undergo further separation process in scrubber
(Sinnot, R. K., 1993).

CHEMICAL REACTION
INTRODUCTION OF REACTOR
There are various types of reactors depending on the phases involved in the reaction. In
this process, an aqueous solution of isopropyl alcohol is fed into the reactor, where the stream
is vaporized and reacted over a solid catalyst. According to Turton et.al. (1998), a single pass

conversion of 85-92% with respect to isopropyl alcohol, with reactor conditions of 2 bar (200
kPa) and 350 C, is generally achieved. The reaction occurs in a packed bed reactor thus the
reactor design is modelled as in plug flow reactor (PFR).
Plug flow reactors which is also known as tubular reactors consist of a hollow pipe or
tube through which reactants flow. It consists of a cylindrical pipe with openings on each end
for reactants and products to flow through. Plug flow reactors are usually operated at steadystate. Reactants are continually consumed as they flow down the length of the reactor. Figure
1 shows a schematic diagram of plug flow reactor.

Figure 4.0: Schematic diagram of plug flow reactor

In a plug flow reactor, reactants are fed to the reactor at the inlet and the product is
removed from the reactor at the outlet. The reaction takes place within the reactor as the
mixture moves through the pipe. The reaction is first order with respect to the concentration
of isopropyl alcohol and has an Arrhenius dependence on temperature with E= 72.38
MJ/kmol and A = 351,000 m3 gas/ m3.s (Mike et. al., 1998). The conversion is 90% with
respect to isopropyl alcohol.

There are many advantages of using PFR compared to other reactors such as Batch
reactor and Continuous Stirred Tank Reactor (CSTR). PFR advantages are as follows:

High conversion per unit volume

Low operating cost
Continuous operation
Good heat transfer
For this reaction, PFR was chosen because :

For gas phase reactions, PFR is more preferable.

For large operations and fast reactions PFR is used.
For conversion up to 90%, the performance of five or more CSTRs connected in series
approaches to that of PFR.

This is the reaction involved in the plug flow reactor

CH3-CHOH-CH3 CH3-CO-CH3 + H2
Isopropyl alcohol Acetone + Hydrogen gas
A B + C
To ensure the validity of the reaction and equations used in designing the reactor, few
assumptions according to Fogler, (2006) has been made:
Assumptions

Steady state
Isothermal
Adiabatic
Constant Pressure
Irreversible reaction
The mixture properties are uniformly distributed across the cross-section of the reactor

The values of operating conditions are as follows:

Reactor type

: Isothermal

Conversion of isopropyl alcohol

: 90%

Operating Temperature

: 350 C

Operating Pressure

: 200 kPa

Molar flowrate, FAO

: 29.80 kmol/hr

PROCESS FLOWCHART

n1, IPA = 29.89 kmol/h

n2, H2O = 14.85 kmol/h
(67% IPA,33% H2O)

REACT
OR
n3, Acetone
n4, H2
n5, H2O
n6, IPA

= 26.82 kmol/h
= 26.82 kmol/h
= 14.85 kmol/h
= 2.98 kmol/h

Figure 4.1: Process flow diagram in the PFR

SUMMARY OF MATERIAL BALANCE

Component
Number of
Mass of
moles entering
component
the reactor
entering the
(kmol/hr)
reactor (kg/hr)
IPA
29.80
1790.98
Water
14.85
267.62
Acetone
Hydrogen
-

Number of
moles leaving
the reactor
(kmol/hr)
2.98
14.85
26.82
26.82

Mass of
component
leaving the
reactor (kg/hr)
179.098
267.2
1557.7
53.64

STREAM CONDITION
Condition

Inlet

Outlet

Pressure (kPa)

200

200

200

Temperature (oC)

350

350

350

Phase

Vapor

Gas

Gas

REACTION KINETICS
The reaction to form acetone from isopropyl alcohol is endothermic with a standard heat of
reaction 62.9 kJ/mol. The reaction is kinetically controlled and occurs in the vapor phase over
a catalyst.
k = A exp
Where

Ea
RT

Reaction constant

Frequency factor

Ea

Activation energy

Gas constant (8.3144 kJ/kmol.K)

Absolute Temperature (623.15K)

There is only one single reaction in this process. The values of A, Ea and k for this reaction
are as follows:
Reaction

Ea

3.51 105 m3 gas/m3

72380 kJ/kmol

0.3008 s-1

reactor.s

STOICHIOMETRIC TABLE
Species

Symbol

Initial

Change

Remaining

Concentration

Isopropyl
Alcohol (IPA)

FA0

- FAOX

FA=FAO(1-X)

CA =
C AO (1 X )
1+X

Acetone

+FAOX

FB=FAOX

CB =
C AO X
1+ X

Hydrogen

+FAOX

FC=FAOX

Water (Inert)

FIO

FI = FIO

Assumption made:
Assume elementary reaction (first order reaction)
Assume limiting reactant is A
Assume irreversible reaction

C AO X
CC = 1+ X
CI = CIO

PARAMETER EVALUATION

YAO

F AO
FT

29.80
44.65

= 0.667 (0.67)

c
a

b
a )-

1
1

1
1 )-1

a
a

=1

= YAO
= 0.67 (1)
= 0.67

CONCENTRATION OF EACH SPECIES

Assume Ideal gas,
PV

= nRT

n
P
=
V RT

CT

P
RT
200 kPa

(623.15 K)8.314

m . Kpa
kmol . K

= 0.0386 kmol/m3
CAO

= YAO CT
= 0.67 (0.0386 kmol/m3)
= 0.02586 kmol/m3

(X = 0.9, YAO = 0.67, = 1, = 0.67)

CA =
=

CAO ( 1X )
1+ X

0.02586(10.9)
1+ 0.67(0.9)

= 0.001613 kmol/m3
CB =
=

C AO X
1+ X

0.02586(0.9)
1+0.67( 0.9)

= 0.01452 kmol/m3
C AO X
CC= 1+ X
=

0.02586(0.9)
1+0.67( 0.9)

= 0.01452 kmol/m3
CI = CIO
= CT - CAo
= 0.01274 kmol/m3
REACTOR VOLUME
Since the rate equation of reaction is
-rIPA = K CIPA
In the form of conversion the rate equation becomes
(1 X)
-rIPA = K CAO 1+X )

Where ;
K = K0 exp [

Determination of k-value
k

72380
= 3.51x105 exp [ (8.3144)(623.15)

Ea

RT

m3 gas
m3 bulk catalyst . s

= 0.3008

The volume of reactor can be calculated by taking a few steps as below:

Rate Law
-rA = kCA

V=

FT
F

CA =

FA
V

V O F (1+ X)
V O (1+ X )

Vo =

1+ X

= V O F

V = VO (1+X)
F AO (1X )
-rA =k V O (1+ X)

Design equation
FAO - FA +

r A dV

r A dV
r A dV
d

r A dV
dV = FAO

FAO X
] = dFAOX

= FAO dX
dX
r A

dV
0

dNA
dt

= FAO

dX
rA
0

V = FAO

dX
rA
0

Combine both rate law and design equation

V = FAO
VO
k

V=
X

dX
rA
0

dX
F (1X )
k AO
V O (1+ X )

= FAO

X
1+
1X

dX

(1+X )dX
1X

Where;

= (1+) ln

VO

1
1X

F AO
C AO

29.80 kmol /hr

0.02586 kmol/m 3
3

= 1155.84
= 0.3211

m
hr

1 hr
3600 s

m3
s

Reactor Volume
Insert value = 0.67, X=0.9, V0 = 0.3157 m3/s

V =

VO
k

V =

0.3211
0.3008

(1+) ln

= 3.4608 m3
Space time
V
= vO
=

3.4608 m3
3
0.3211 m / s

= 10.7780 s

1
1X

(1+0.67) ln

X
1
10.9

(0.67)(0.9)

CONCLUSION
In this process, an aqueous solution of Isopropyl Alcohol is fed into the reactor and produce
Acetone and Hydrogen gas. The reactor operates at conditions of 2 bar (200 kPa) and 350C.
The reaction occurs in a packed bed reactor thus the reactor design is modelled as in Plug
Flow Reactor. The reaction is a first order reaction. The k-value is calculated by using
Arrhenius law to get 0.3008 s-1. The volume of the reactor is calculated to be 3.4608 m3 and
the space time, is 10.7780 s. Based on the production of acetone which is 15,000 tonne of
Acetone/year via the dehydrogenation of Isopropyl Alcohol, the data that have been
calculated as summarized below are acceptable.
Type of reactor

Plug Flow Reactor

Operating temperature

350 C

Operating pressure

2 bar

K value

0.3008 s-1

Volume of reactor

3.4608 m3

Space time

10.780 s