Ethane is chlorinate in a continuous reactor:

C2H6 + Cl2 C2H5Cl + HCl

Some of the product monochloroethane is further chlorinated in an undesired side reaction:

C2H5Cl + Cl2 C2H4Cl2 + HCl

a) Suppose your principal objective is to maximize the selectivity of monochloroethane production relative to dichloroethane. Would you design a reactor for a high or low conversion of ethane? Explain your answer. (Hint: If the reactor contents remained in the reactor long enough for most of the ethane in the feed to be consumed, what would be the main product) What additional processing steps would almost certainly be carried out to make the process economically sound?

b) Take a basis of 100 mol C2HsCl produced. Assume that the feed contains only ethane and chlorine and that all of the chlorine is consumed, and carry out a degree-of-freedom analysis based on atomic species balances.

c) The reactor is designed to yield a 15% conversion of ethane and a selectivity of 14 mol C2HsCI/mol C2H4CI, with a negligible amount of chlorine in the product gas. Calculate the feed ratio (mol Ch/ mol C2Ho) and the fractional yield of monochloroethane