Effect of light phase inlet structure on liquid-liquid cyclone reactor for isobutane alkylation catalyzed by ionic liquid

The liquid-liquid cyclone reactor (LLCR) is a new and promising device suitable for the fast reaction and separation for the liquid-liquid system, such as isobutene alkylation catalyzed by acidic ionic liquids. The effect of the number and the width of light phase inlet structures of LLCR on the mixing and separation performance was investigated. The Euler-Euler model and Reynolds Stress Model were used as the multiphase model and the turbulence model, respectively. The mean local turbulence dissipation rate, mean residence time and separation efficiency of Type O (dual-inlet), Type A (tetra-inlet with half width) and Type B (dual-inlet with half width) were obtained to compare the mixing and separation performance. The results showed that both the mixing performance and the separation performance improved with the increasing number of light phase inlet. The width reduction of light phase inlet could result in the decrease of the droplet breakup, the increase the mass of transfer time and the separation efficiency.