NUMERICAL-SIMULATION OF INFLUENCE OF MASS-TRANSFER ON PHASE-TRANSFER CATALYTIC REACTION

Mass transfer with chemical reaction by liquid/liquid phase transfer c atalysis (LLPTC) for an isothermal batch reactor was analyzed. The res ults for the phase transfer catalyzed reaction system can be generally described by a pseudo first-order hypothesis, whereas the reaction sy stem can be controlled by simultaneous mass transfer of the catalysts between two liquid phases and chemical reaction in the organic phase. The mass transfer limitation is mainly from the mass transfer step of QX from the organic phase to the aqueous phase. The concept of catalys t-effectiveness vs. physically meaningful parameters in a liquid/liqui d phase transfer catalyzed reaction is introduced. The catalyst effect iveness is increased as the mass transfer factors increase, the ratio of reaction rate coefficients of aqueous forward reaction to organic i ncreases, and the equilibrium constant in the aqueous solution increas es.