In liquid-phase oxidation of hydrocarbon by air

liquid carryover in the off gas returns to the reaction system from the condeser and separator. There are three modes of carryover return

as shown in Fig. 1: backward refluxing

refluxing in situ and forward refluxing. It. is apparent that the reactant concentration distribution would vary in the reactors in series with the mode of carryover return

thus affecting the overall oxidation process. In this paper

the influence of the mode of carryover return and the reflux ratio on hydrocarbon conversion and selectivety for hydroperoxide formation are discussed. It is shown that in backward refluxing

both conversion and selectivity may be improved if the carryover consists mainly of hydrocarbon

and one obtained: Lim R→∞ Sb=1