Ethylene Partial Oxidation Kinetics

Process modeling and design of ethylene oxide production plant ismainly depended on kinetics of the ethylene oxide production reactions.In this article, kinetics of partial oxidation (epoxidation) of ethylene onsilver catalyst was reviewed. There are three competitive reactions inthis system: ethylene partial and total oxidation and ethylene oxide totaloxidation. The reaction rate equations for these three reactions werecompared and advantage and disadvantage of kinetic models werediscussed. Dichloroethane (DCE) is used in these reactions to increasethe ethylene oxide selectivity. Therefore, the reactions kineticsconsidering the role of DCE is also reported. Most of the kineticsmodels have some weakness. However, one of the reviewed modelswas the complete model because of including all three reactions ofpartial and total oxidation of ethylene and total oxidation of ethyleneoxide. Also, this model considered the concentration of selectivitypromoter (DCE) and reverse reactions.

Keywords:

Ethylene , Partial Oxidation , Kinetics , Reaction Rate