owsheet with a PFR reactor and black - box separation unit, as well as with recycles
for the gas (ethylene and CO 2 ) and liquid (acetic acid). All other components,
namely VAM, water and byproduct CO 2 , are lumped into a product stream sent
to further separation.
The reactor is of the heat - exchanger type with catalyst and tubes and rising steam
outside. In this project we consider spherical catalyst particles of 5 mm diameter
and a bed void fraction of 45%, which offers a good trade - off between effi ciency
and lower pressure drop. The gas inlet pressure is 10 bar. We aim at a pressure
drop less than 15% of the operating pressure, namely a maximum of 1.5 bar.