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Journal of Applied Sciences

Year: 2008 | Volume: 8 | Issue: 4 | Page No.: 601-607
DOI: 10.3923/jas.2008.601.607
Investigating the Micro-Channel Flow Reactor Configuration on the Liquid Phase Synthesis of tert-amyl Methyl Ether Catalyzed by Sulfuric Acid
Mohammed Matouq, Zaid Al-Anber, Tomohiko Tagawa, Salah Aljbour and Hiroshi Yamada

Abstract: This study aims to investigate the effect of reactants and catalyst flow rates; the effect of the catalyst concentration and the position inlet to the reactor location of the catalyst on the synthesis of tert-amyl methyl ether (TAME), have investigated. The results reveal that the micro channel reactor shows high selectivity for homogeneous syntheses of TAME compared to heterogeneous ones. The experimental results show that no other di-ether products were noticed in this study. The selected flow rates for the reactants and the catalyst give a stable flow pattern inside the reactor and no turbulent flow was noticed in any conducted runs. The mole fraction for methanol (MeOH) and tert-amyl alcohol (TAA) are 22 and 37% respectively, (this was considered the standard condition). Experimental results show that, keeping H2SO4 flows in the top lane of the reactor gives good mixing from the middle and bottom lanes. At the same time this will give the chance to the reactant to be pulled toward the middle lane to promote the reaction. Therefore, the middle lane can be considered as the core of the reaction zone phase, while the other lanes as separation zones. On the other hand, when H2SO4 introduced from the middle inlet the chance of reactants mixing from the top and bottom lanes will be less. It was also noticed that during the reaction and when the H2SO4 introduced at the top lane of the micro-channel, the catalyst distributes itself within the TAA lane and forms a micelle to react with MeOH in the bottom lane. When the flow rates of the reactants was reduced to half of its standard condition the yield was noticed to be higher. This may be attributed to the fact that lower flow rate, will lengthen the residence time inside the reactor and more reaction will develop.

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How to cite this article
Mohammed Matouq, Zaid Al-Anber, Tomohiko Tagawa, Salah Aljbour and Hiroshi Yamada, 2008. Investigating the Micro-Channel Flow Reactor Configuration on the Liquid Phase Synthesis of tert-amyl Methyl Ether Catalyzed by Sulfuric Acid. Journal of Applied Sciences, 8: 601-607.

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