Simulation of chlorination of benzene and distillation of chlorobenzene in a combined reaction and distillation tower with side reactors

The structure of side reactors distillation column (SRC) can improve the production process selectivity and conversion rate effectively. The concept of independent reactor calculating is introduced to set up the multi-lateral line feeding equilibrium model of SRC, and Newton-Raphson method used for solving the MESH equations of the model. The method is applied in the distillation simulation for production of chlorobenzene. The model has good convergence effect. In given simulation conditions, when the feeding molar flow rate of chlorine is 8 kmol/h, the product purity of benzene chloride 96.8% and the best feeding molar flow rate of benzene 7.77 kmol/h. The simulation results can be used to guide the production process of benzene chlorination.