Linear Alkylbenzenes Sulfonation: Design of Film Reactor and its Influence on the Formation of Deactivating components

Linear alkylbenzene sulfonic acid (ABSA) is a valuable product of inorganic chemistry that is used to obtain linear alkylbenzene sulfonates. The current method for industrial production of ABSA includes sulfonation of linear alkylbenzene (LAB) with sulfur trioxide in tubular falling film reactors. In this work, we analyze the dependence of the dynamics of the deactivating components formation (tetralines and sulfones) on the structural parameters for a multi-tube film sulfonation reactor. To achieve this, we used an unsteady-state mathematical model that considers the feedstock composition and the change in the reaction medium activity. We determined that the film sulfonation reactor of optimal construction has 40 tubes of diameter of 43 mm. It was revealed that with an increase of the LAB supply to the reactor tube, the mass transfer coefficient also increases. For LAB flows of (95∙10⁻⁵) and (2.86∙10⁻⁵) m³ s⁻¹ per tube, the mass transfer coefficient is (1.73∙10⁻²) m s⁻¹ and (2.08∙10⁻²) m s⁻¹, respectively.