This paper reports the suitability of a multipoint injection continuous flow reactor for carrying out a sequential reaction, while taking into account the associated hydrodynamics of such systems. Pressure drop was measured for different fluid injection patterns, viz., equal fluid dosing, decreasing dosing, and increasing dosing flow rates from the first to the last inlet. Moreover, residence time distribution was also explored. The data were compared with a conventional single-point injection. The extent of dispersion was found to be higher in the decreasing dosing profile compared to equally distributed dosing. Taking into account of these features, the suitability of such a reactor system for competitive-consecutive homogeneous nitration reaction was evaluated. The analysis was done on the basis of the Damkohler number (Da) for mixing and reaction. The rate-controlling phenomena were used to simulate the performance of the reactor for a range of a number of inlets, the mole ratio of reactants, and relative values of Da. The observations indicate that the multipoint injection is not beneficial for mixing controlled reactions. However, for reactions in the transient regime (i.e., 0.001 < t(m)/t(R) < 1000), it gives higher selectivity of the desired product.

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