Preparation method of ethylbenzene hydroperoxide
Technical Field
The invention belongs to the field of chemical industry, and particularly relates to a preparation method of ethylbenzene hydroperoxide.
Background
Propylene Oxide (PO) is an important downstream derivative of propylene and its primary use is in the production of polyether polyols and, in turn, polyurethanes. The production process of the propylene oxide mainly comprises a chlorohydrin method, a PO/TBA (tert-butyl alcohol) method, a PO/SM (styrene) method, a CHP (cumene hydroperoxide) method and an HPPO method, wherein the chlorohydrin method generates a large amount of waste water and waste residues, so that the environmental pollution is serious, and a new project is not used any more. Among other methods, the PO/SM method has a high market value in the co-production of SM, and is therefore widely used.
At present, PO/SM technology is monopolized by three enterprises including Laonendol chemical company (L yondell), Shell group (Shell) and Spanish Repsol (Repsol), the production processes of the enterprises are similar, the difference is mainly that catalysts used for PO production are different, the main production process comprises the following steps of 1, oxidizing liquid-phase ethylbenzene with gas-phase air to generate ethylbenzene hydroperoxide (EBHP), 2, reacting EBHP with propylene to obtain PO and α -Methyl Benzyl Alcohol (MBA), and 3, dehydrating MBA to generate SM., the selectivity and reaction rate of the first step determine the subsequent byproduct separation cost and production capacity of the whole device, which are one of the key steps of the whole process.
In addition, the reaction temperature also has a large influence on the conversion and selectivity of EBHP. If the temperature is too low, the reaction rate is too slow, which affects the productivity of the equipment, and if the temperature is too high, the decomposition of EBHP is too fast, and the reaction selectivity is poor. In order to solve this conflict, the patents CN107930555A and CN106554298A adopt a reaction process of high temperature first and low temperature second. Meanwhile, because ethylbenzene oxidation and EBHP decomposition belong to exothermic reactions, and the EBHP decomposition heat release rate and temperature are in an exponential relationship, local hot spots are easily formed in the reactor, which causes rapid EBHP decomposition and damages the stable operation of the reactor, and the liquid phase is required to be sufficiently disturbed in order to keep the temperature of the liquid phase in the reactor uniform. In order to enhance the liquid phase disturbance, CN107930555A discloses a horizontal reactor with a stirrer and a guide cylinder, and CN106554298A uses a multi-stage bubble column reactor for preparing EBHP by ethylbenzene oxidation.
In order to accelerate the ethylbenzene oxidation rate and stabilize EBHP, there are also proposals for adding catalysts (Beilsteinjournal of organic Chemistry,2013,9: 1296-. CN200780042092 by shell company, promoted oxidation by adding styrene and/or styrene derivatives to the raw material, was used because styrene is also one of the co-products of the reaction.
In conclusion, the prior ethylbenzene oxidation method has the problems of large occupied area of a horizontal reactor, nonuniform temperature distribution of the reactor and large amount of complicated internal components in the reactor.
Disclosure of Invention
In order to overcome the above problems, the present invention provides a novel method for preparing ethylbenzene hydroperoxide, which simplifies the reaction process, more precisely controls the reaction temperature, and simultaneously improves the selectivity and reaction efficiency of ethylbenzene hydroperoxide.
The invention provides a preparation method of ethylbenzene hydroperoxide, which comprises the following steps:
oxygen-containing gas enters the vertical oxidation reactor through an oxygen-containing gas inlet, liquid ethylbenzene enters the first-stage vertical oxidation reactor through a material inlet at the bottom of the reactor and contacts with the oxygen-containing gas from the oxygen-containing gas distributor to react; driven by the density difference of liquid phase on the inner side and the outer side of the guide cylinder, the liquid ethylbenzene flows downwards on the inner side of the guide cylinder and flows upwards on the outer side of the guide cylinder;
the gas phase in the reactor is discharged from an exhaust port at the top of the reactor and enters a condensing device, one part of the gas phase which is not condensed in the condensing device is sent out, one part of the gas phase is returned into the reactor through a circulating gas inlet, and the condensed liquid phase is returned into the reactor through a material inlet at the bottom of the first-stage vertical oxidation reactor; the liquid phase in the reactor is extracted or sent to the material inlet of the next stage vertical oxidation reactor through the liquid phase product outlet.
In the present invention, preferably, the preparation method is carried out in one or more vertical oxidation reactors connected in series as follows:
the vertical oxidation reactor comprises an upper end enclosure, a cylinder and a lower end enclosure; the upper end enclosure is provided with an exhaust port, the lower end enclosure is provided with a material inlet and a quenching ethylbenzene inlet, the cylinder body is provided with an oxygen-containing gas inlet, a circulating gas inlet and a liquid-phase product outlet, and a gas distributor and a guide cylinder are arranged in the cylinder body;
the material inlet of the first-stage vertical oxidation reactor is connected with a feeding main pipeline, and the liquid-phase product outlet is connected with a liquid-phase product extraction pipeline or the material inlet of the next-stage vertical oxidation reactor;
the guide cylinder is communicated up and down, the gas distributor is positioned between the guide cylinder and the cylinder body and comprises an oxygen-containing gas distributor and a circulating gas distributor which are sequentially arranged from bottom to top, an oxygen-containing gas inlet is connected with the oxygen-containing gas distributor, and a circulating gas inlet is connected with the circulating gas distributor;
the exhaust port is connected with the condensing device, the gas phase outlet of the condensing device is divided into two branches, one branch is connected with the outside, the other branch is connected with the circulating gas inlet, and the liquid phase outlet of the condensing device is connected with the material inlet of the first-stage vertical oxidation reactor.
In the invention, liquid-phase ethylbenzene enters from a material inlet of a first-stage vertical oxidation reactor, contacts with oxygen-containing gas entering the reactor through an oxygen-containing gas distributor, and is partially oxidized into ethylbenzene hydroperoxide.
According to the present invention, preferably, the oxygen content of the oxygen-containing gas is 10 to 21 vol%, the reaction temperature of the oxygen-containing gas and liquid ethylbenzene is 140 ℃ and 150 ℃, and the pressure is 0.22 to 0.27 MPaG. Wherein, the oxygen-containing gas can adopt air or a mixed gas of air and inert gases such as nitrogen, and the air which is cheap and easy to obtain is preferred; when a plurality of reactors are connected in series, the temperature in each reactor may be the same or different.
According to the invention, the feeding speed of the liquid ethylbenzene is preferably 200-2000t/h, the feeding speed of the oxygen-containing gas is 1.8-18t/h, the feeding speed of the liquid ethylbenzene is further preferably 800-1600t/h, and the feeding speed of the oxygen-containing gas is 7-14 t/h.
In the invention, at the initial stage of reaction, the concentration of the ethylbenzene hydroperoxide in the reactor is low, so that the production requirement of the subsequent process cannot be met, the ethylbenzene hydroperoxide of the liquid-phase product can be concentrated and then circulated back to the reactor to continuously participate in the reaction, and the circulating feeding can be stopped after the reaction temperature and the concentration are reached. And (3) conveying the mixed gas discharged from the top discharge port to a condensing device, returning a part of uncondensed gas to the reactor through a circulating gas distributor, and discharging the rest gas out of the system after treatment, wherein the condensed liquid phase can be returned to the feed inlet of the reactor for continuous recycling due to the fact that the condensed liquid phase contains ethylbenzene. Since the larger the circulation amount, the more hot ethylbenzene is carried out in the discharged mixed gas, the lower the reaction temperature is, and the temperature in the reactor can be adjusted. When a plurality of reactors are connected in series, the circulating gas can independently adjust the temperature of each reaction system according to the actual working conditions in each reactor, and the temperature in each reactor can be the same or different.
In the invention, when the reaction temperature is too high and the circulating gas amount is increased, the feeding of the oxygen-containing gas is stopped, and the quenched ethylbenzene is introduced to cool the material in the reactor, preferably, when the temperature in the vertical oxidation reactor exceeds 160-165 ℃, the quenched ethylbenzene is introduced.
Compared with the prior art, the invention has the following advantages:
1) the invention utilizes the circulating gas to control the reaction temperature, saves the arrangement of a heat exchange device in the reactor, simplifies the structure of the reactor and reduces the equipment investment.
2) The invention utilizes the guide shell which is communicated up and down, and oxygen-containing reaction gas is blown into the outer side of the guide shell, so that density difference is generated between the inner side and the outer side of the guide shell, and under the pushing of the density difference, liquid materials in a reactor flow downwards in the inner side of the guide shell and flow upwards in the outer side of the guide shell to form circulation; meanwhile, in order to further enhance the strength of circulation, the top and/or the bottom of the guide shell are/is provided with a diameter-expanding structure, so that the temperature in the reactor is more uniform, the phenomenon that the decomposition speed of the ethylbenzene hydroperoxide is too high due to local hot spots in the reactor is effectively avoided, the selectivity of the ethylbenzene hydroperoxide is improved, the concentration of the ethylbenzene hydroperoxide is better controlled, and the production safety is ensured.
Additional features and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the detailed description which follows.
Drawings
The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent by describing in more detail exemplary embodiments thereof with reference to the attached drawings, in which like reference numerals generally represent like parts throughout.
FIG. 1 shows a schematic diagram of a vertical barrel oxidation reactor in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 shows a schematic diagram of a series of vertical barrel oxidation reactors according to one embodiment of the present invention.
Description of the reference numerals
1. A reactor; 2. a barrel; 3. an upper end enclosure; 4. a lower end enclosure; 5. a discharge system; 6. a material inlet; 7. a quenched ethylbenzene inlet; 8. an oxygen-containing gas inlet; 9. a recycle gas inlet; 10. a liquid phase product outlet; 11. an exhaust port; 12. an oxygen-containing gas distributor; 13. a circulating gas distributor; 14. a draft tube; 15. a baffle plate; 16. a temperature measurement port; 17. a condensing unit.
Detailed Description
Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in more detail below. While the following describes preferred embodiments of the present invention, it should be understood that the present invention may be embodied in various forms and should not be limited by the embodiments set forth herein.
Example 1
Two identical vertical oxidation reactors A, B, the specific configuration of which is shown in figure 1, are connected in series (as shown in figure 2) to produce ethylbenzene hydroperoxide.
The vertical oxidation reactor comprises an upper end enclosure 3, a cylinder 2 and a lower end enclosure 4; the upper end enclosure 3 is provided with an exhaust port 11, the lower end enclosure 4 is provided with a material inlet 6 and a quenching ethylbenzene inlet 7, the inner diameter of the cylinder 2 is 7m, the cylinder is provided with an oxygen-containing gas inlet 8, a circulating gas inlet 9 and a liquid-phase product outlet 10, and the inner side of the cylinder 2 corresponding to the liquid-phase product outlet 10 is provided with a baffling baffle 15.
The cylinder body 2 is internally provided with a gas distributor and a guide cylinder 14, and the gas distributor, the cylinder body 2 and the guide cylinder 14 are coaxial. The guide cylinder 14 is through up and down, the top part of the guide cylinder is an outward-expanded circular truncated cone, the bottom part of the guide cylinder is flush with the undercut line of the cylinder body 2, and the diameter of the guide cylinder is 30 percent of that of the cylinder body 2; the gas distributor is a ring pipe gas distributor, is positioned between the guide shell 14 and the cylinder body 2, comprises an oxygen-containing gas distributor 12 and a circulating gas distributor 13 which are sequentially arranged from bottom to top, and is provided with 70 uniformly distributed gas distribution holes with the diameter of 5 mm. The oxygen-containing gas inlet 8 is connected with an oxygen-containing gas distributor 12, and the circulating gas inlet 9 is connected with a circulating gas distributor 13; the oxygen-containing gas distributor 12 is flush with the undercut line of the barrel 2, the distance between the circulating gas distributor 13 and the bottom tangent of the barrel 2 is 50% of the length of the barrel 2, and the distance between the position of the liquid-phase product outlet 10 and the top tangent of the barrel 2 is 30% of the length of the barrel 2.
A material inlet 6 of the first-stage vertical oxidation reactor A is connected with a main feeding pipeline, and a liquid-phase product outlet 10 is connected with a material inlet 6 of the second-stage vertical oxidation reactor B; the exhaust port 11 is connected with a condensing device 17, a gas phase outlet of the condensing device 17 is divided into two branches, one branch is connected with the outside, the other branch is connected with a circulating gas inlet 9, and a liquid phase outlet of the condensing device 17 is connected with a material inlet 6 of the first-stage vertical oxidation reactor A.
The process flow comprises the following steps:
introducing an ethylbenzene raw material containing 98.8 wt% into a feeding inlet 6 at the bottom of a first-stage vertical oxidation reactor A at 1600t/h, triggering a reaction with an oxygen-containing gas from an oxygen-containing gas distributor 12 at the reaction temperature of 145 ℃ and under the pressure of 0.25MPaG, and driving the ethylbenzene raw material to flow downwards at the inner side of a guide cylinder 14 and flow upwards at the outer side of the guide cylinder 14 under the drive of liquid phase density difference at the inner side and the outer side of the guide cylinder 14; wherein the oxygen-containing gas is air having an oxygen content of about 21 vol%, and the air flow rates in the reactor A, B are 10.8t/h and 13t/h, respectively.
The gas phase in the reactor is discharged from a gas outlet 11 at the top of the reactor and enters a condensing device 17, a part of the gas phase which is not condensed in the condensing device 17 is sent out, and a part of the gas phase returns to the reactor through a circulating gas inlet, and the circulating gas amount of the reactor A, B is 2.3t/h and 5t/h respectively; the condensed liquid phase returns to the reactor through a material inlet 6 at the bottom of the first-stage vertical oxidation reactor A; the liquid phase in the reactor is sent to a material inlet 6 of a second-stage vertical oxidation reactor B.
The temperature of the reactor A, B was adjusted to 149 ℃ and 147 ℃ respectively by increasing the amount of recycle gas in stages, and the reactor pressure was maintained at 0.25 MPaG. Under these conditions, the ethylbenzene hydroperoxide content in the mixed stream obtained at the liquid-phase product outlet 10 of the reactor B was about 1.6% by weight, and the oxygen content of the gas-phase outlet material was about 3.5% by volume after gas-liquid separation.
Example 2
As in example 1, the only difference is that: the ethylbenzene feed was fed at 1600t/h and the air flow in the reactor A, B was 12t/h and 14t/h, respectively.
Under these conditions, the ethylbenzene hydroperoxide content of the mixture obtained at the outlet of the liquid phase product of reactor B was about 2.0% by weight.
Example 3
As in example 1, the only difference is that: the vertical oxidation reactor group is obtained by connecting three vertical oxidation reactors in series.
Under these conditions, the ethylbenzene hydroperoxide content of the mixture obtained at the outlet of the liquid phase product of reactor B was about 2.7% by weight.
Examples 1-3 demonstrate that the process for the preparation of ethylbenzene hydroperoxide as provided herein is not only operationally robust, but also allows the desired concentration of ethylbenzene hydroperoxide to be obtained by adjusting the number of reactors in series and the feed rate.
Having described embodiments of the present invention, the foregoing description is intended to be exemplary, not exhaustive, and not limited to the embodiments disclosed. Many modifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the described embodiments.