ISSN print edition: 0366-6352 ISSN electronic edition: 1336-9075 Registr. No.: MK SR 9/7 Published monthly

Kinetics of the Overall Higher Alcohol Synthesis Reacting System

L. Nowicki and T. Olewski

Faculty of Process & Environmental Engineering, Technical University of Lodz, PL-90 924 Lodz

E-mail: nowickil@ck-sg.p.lodz.pl

Received: 2 March 2002

Abstract: In the kinetic models of higher alcohol synthesis developed in this study, the reaction productswere treated on a lumped basis. The alcohols and hydrocarbons (unbranched alkanes) are regardedas single pseudocomponents with average carbon number chain length depending on the processvariables. The lumped treatment of the kinetics seems to be valuable to get better understandingof the e_ect of operating variables. The advantage of such type of models is a reduced number ofparameters to be estimated. Three types of the rate equations describing the formation rates ofalcohols, hydrocarbons and the rate of water-gas-shift reaction were assumed. The discriminationbetween the proposed rate equations was based on experimental rates measured in a tank slurryreactor over a modi_ed Cu/ZnO catalyst. The inhibiting e_ect of water vapour appeared to be themost important for production of alcohols and hydrocarbons.

Full paper in Portable Document Format: 571a21.pdf

Chemical Papers 57 (1) 21–26 (2003)