Synthetically produced ethanol is an important industrialcommodity used for various purposes, including as a solvent(especially for substances intended for human contact orconsumption); in coatings, inks, and personal care products; forsterilization; and as a fuel. Industrial ethanol is a petrochemicalsynthesized by the hydrolysis of ethylene:

C2H4 (g) + H2O (v) <=>C2H5OH (v)
Some of the product is converted to diethyl ether in the undesiredside reaction:

2 C2H5OH (v)<=> (C2H5 )2O (v) + H2O (v)

The combined feed to the reactor contains 53.7 mole% C2H4, 36.7%H2O, and the balance nitrogen, and enters the reactor at 310oC. Thereactor operates isothermally at 310oC. An ethylene conversion of5% is achieved, and the yield of ethanol (moles ethanolproduced/moles ethylene consumed) is 0.900. Hint: treat the reactoras an open system.

Data for Diethyl Ether:

ˆ
H of = -271.2 kJ/mol for the liquid

ˆ
Hv = 26.05 kJ/mol (assume independent of T )

Cp[kJ/(molC)] = 0.08945 + 40.33*10-5T(C) -2.244*10-7T2

(a) Calculate the reactor heating or cooling requirement inkJ/mol feed.
(b) Why would the reactor be designed to yield such a lowconversion of ethylene? What processing

step (or steps) would probably follow the reactor in acommercial implementation of this process?