OF THE KINETIC PARAMETERS AND MODELING OF THE REACTOR FOR HYDROGENATION OF M-NITROTOLUENE IN A MULTI PHASE SLURRY REACTOR

Hydrogenation of m-nitrotoluene to m-toluidine has been investigated in a three phase slurry reactor, using Raney Nickel as the reaction catalyst. Effects of agitator speed, catalyst loading and temperature on the reaction rate in the methanol medium have been investigated. The kinetics of the reaction studied at atmospheric pressure in the absence of both internal and external mass transfer resistances. The overall rate of reaction has been studied by applying the Eley-Rideal mechanism. The latter has been shown to be of pseudo first order with the respect to nitro toluene concentration. The apparent activation energy for the reaction has been determined as 35 kJ/gmol. Finally, a comparison has been made between the experimental results and those predicted from the reaction model.