Imperial Chemical Industries Limited

Stuart G Trotter

Ralph J Doy

A process wherein a liquid influent stream containing such an amount of a reactant that decomposition thereof to a desired concentration evolves, at the prevailing pressure and temperature, at least 0.5 volumes of gas per volume of the influent stream, is continuously passed through a volume of a particulate catalyst that is sufficient to decompose said reactant to said desired concentration and the evolved gas rises to the surface of said liquid and disengages therefrom into a gas space above said liquid, thereby providing an effluent stream having said desired concentration of said reactant. In order that back mixing of the effluent stream with said influent stream is avoided, the catalyst is disposed in a plurality of serially connected reaction volumes, each of which has a liquid surface from which evolved gas can disengage into the gas space, and the extent of reaction in each of said reaction volumes is limited by providing that the depth of catalyst in each reaction volume is such that the rate at which gas disengages from the liquid surface of each reaction volume is less than 0.05 m.sup.3.s.sup.-1 per m.sup.2 of the liquid surface of that reaction volume.

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Cleveland, United Kingdom

Stuart G Trotter