A Detailed Quantitative Study of 1,2-Dichloroethane Cracking to Vinyl Chloride by a Gas Chromatographic Pyrolysis Device

Abstract

The pyrolysis of 1,2-dichloroethane (EDC) is investigated by a novel apparatus which incorporates a microcracking furnace into a gas chromatograph equipped with a capillary separation column. The device allows for the vaporization and pyrolysis of the liquid feed, in addition to sampling and analysis of the furnace effluent, to be accomplished in a single experimental run. This design circumvents the problems normally encountered when sampling a two-phase mixture containing toxic and corrosive materials. Moreover, it provides the most complete analysis of 1,2-dichlorethane pyrolysis reported to date. Results demonstrating the influence of conversion parameters such as pyrolysis temperature and residence time on product distribution are presented. It is also shown that kinetic parameters for such pyrolysis reactions can be measured with the GC pyrolysis apparatus. The simple and versatile apparatus could also be used to quantitatively study the pyrolysis of other liquid feedstocks such as naphthas, condensates, and other chlorinated hydrocarbons.

Numerical simulations of the pyrolysis of 1, 2 dichloroethane

“…1. There is excellent agreement between the numerical predictions and experimental results from Incavo (1996) for the case of residence time = 1 sec. As the residence time increases, the EDC conversion in calculation shows a little higher than that in experimental results.…”

“…1 The mole fraction of EDC, VCM, and HCI with respect to residence time at constant temperature and reactor volume. Line: numerical results, symbols: experimental results (Incavo, 1996) , 1992]. It shows that the reaction mechanism can predict the conversion of EDC even though in commercial condition.…”

“…Many studies on the decomposition of EDC have been worked under the thermal decomposition [Barton, 1949;Barton and Howlett, 1949;Howlett, 1952;Holbrook et al, 1971, Ranzi et al, 1992Incavo, 1996], the catalysed pyrolysis by chlorine or other species [Ashmore et ai., 1982a;Ashmore et al, 1982b], and the photolysis [Yano and Tschulkow-Roux, 1980;Ma et al, 1990;Cardy et al, 1993]. The thermal decomposition is one of the most widely used methods in commercial processes for the production of vinyl chloride.…”

“…The model was used as a starting point for the study of different reacting systems both in terms of design of new reactors for EDC pyrolysis and in terms of the evaluation of the effect of possible additives, typically chlorinated hydrocarbons. Incavo (1996) performed the analysis of I, 2 dichlorethane pyrolysis with a gas chromatographic pyrolysis device, and presented the influence of conversion parameters such as pyrolysis temperature and residence time on product distribution including the minor or trace species.…”

Experimental and theoretical study on the kinetics and mechanism of thermal decomposition of 1,2-dichloroethane

“…Two main products from C-C cleavage in this system are methyl chloride and methylene chloride according to reactions R7 and R8. To the best of our knowledge, the kinetics of reaction R5 is not well established, although methyl chloride and methylene chloride are reported as byproducts in the pyrolysis of EDC [9].…”