Interfacial kinetics of biphasic hydroformylation of 1-dodecene catalyzed by water-soluble rhodium complex by a combined numerical and experimental approach

A novel approach for determining interfacial kinetics by excluding the mass transfer effect accurately by numerical simulation of fluid flow and mass transfer in a chemical reactor is presented. In the presence of surfactant, the biphasic hydroformylation of 1-dodecene catalyzed by water-soluble rho dium, complex in a stirred autoclave under laminar-flow conditions with fla t, horizontal gas-liquid and liquid-liquid interfaces was studied. The new approach in the present kinetic study features the numerical simulation of fluid flow and mass transfer to accurately account for the mass transfer re sistance involved in chemical reactions. The laminar-flow structure generat ed by a simple circular disk impeller as well as the concentration distribu tions of all components in organic and aqueous phases were simulated by com putational fluid dynamics and transport phenomena. In combination with expe rimental results for the biphasic hydroformylation of 1-dodecene under the same reaction conditions as used in the numerical simulations, the interfac ial kinetics of the biphasic hydroformylation of 1-dodecene was determined.