NEW PROCESS FOR NITRATION OF BENZENE TOLUENE AND OTHER AROMATIC COMPOUNDS.

The process employs a pump circuit reactor in which the nitration reaction itself is completed in only a few seconds and the total contact-time between the two phases is under a minute. Advantages claimed for the process include a higher yield with reduced by-product formation; a very high degree of safety; and lower energy-consumption and purification costs. In addition, the 'spent acid' separated at the end of the process is sufficiently pure sulphuric acid to be used directly in fertilizer manufacture. The process is being employed by its inventors for the nitration of benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and chlorobenzene. By adjusting reaction variables such as temperatures and concentrations, it could readily be adapted to most aromatic nitrations involving heterogeneous liquid-phase reactions, including di- and tri-nitrations.