Activity 3: Identifying yield and selectivity variation in competitive reactions One of your clients is at the preliminary design stage for the manufacture of isopropyltoluene (IP). They have already decided that the chemical reaction that they plan to use is the alkylation of toluene (To) by propene (Pr), and their feasibility study indicates that this is best undertaken in the gas phase at 200C, in a tubular reactor. The Client has also identified that the major side reaction is dimerization of Pr to yield methylpentene (MP), and that other minor sicle reactions are possible. Although the Client has not allowed their feasibility study to be shared, they have provided an indication of some factors they would like to be considered (given below in red), so that an assessment can be made on how the yield and selectivity of the primary reaction varies with the conversion of propene (ranging from 10% to 40%). Notes from Client - Mole ratio of To/Pr>1. - Reactor needs to be fed by a mixture of To, Pr and and inert species in the mole ratio 5:1:10. - At an operating temperature of 200C, the rate constant for the reaction to To with Pr is five times larger that of the dimerization of Pr. Notes from Team Leader - Is there an ideal reactor that can be used to approximate the tubular reactor? - This is clearly a case of competitive reactions - probably better to assume that they are all singlestep processes, which are chemically irreversible. - Why has the Client fixed the To/Pr ratio to be >1 ? Given this, it might be prudent to assume the concentration of To is constant along the reactor. - Probably easiest to start to work with a conversion of Pr that is mid-range, and use this to estimate the yield and selectivity, before iterating the calculation to the extremes