ABSTRACT
Ethyl chloride is produced by the gas-phase reaction of HCl with ethylene over a copper chloride catalyst supported on silica. The feed stream is composed of 50% HCl, 48 mol% C2H4, and 2 mol% N2 at 100 kmol/h, 25°C, and 1 atm. Since the reaction achieves only 90 mol% conversion, the ethyl chloride product is separated from the unreacted reagents, and the latter is recycled. The separation is achieved using a distillation column. To prevent accumulation of inerts in the system, a portion of the distillate is withdrawn in a purge stream. Design a process for this purpose using Hysys, PRO/II, Aspen Plus, and SuperPro software packages.
