Abstract

The nitration of chlorobenzene with concentrated mixed acids is a fast and highly exothermic process, which suffers from considerable mass transfer resistance and poor heat transfer rates. The reaction kinetics has not been thoroughly reported before. In this work, a continuous-flow microreactor system and a homogeneous reaction condition were proposed to obtain accurate chlorobenzene nitration kinetics data at high mixed acid concentrations. A general model for predicting the observed reaction rate constants was established. With a new method for estimating the equilibria associated with HNO3 in aqueous sulfuric acid, the rate constants based on nitronium ion and activation energies were obtained. Compared with batch reactors, the continuous-flow microreactor system allows for a sufficient heat transfer efficiency and accurate residence time control, making it possible to study the reaction performance more quickly and sensitively. This work may provide a reliable reference for the kinetic study of similar processes.