To obtain the subject reactor capable of improving the selectivity when carrying out a vapor-phase oxidation of ethylene by treating a part of the surface of the reactor contacting with a reactant gas with a solution of a nitrite.
This reactor is a carbon-steel shell-and-tube type reactor for producing ethylene oxide by oxidizing ethylene in the presence of a silver- carrying catalyst, and has at least a part of the surface of the reactor, contacting with the reactant gas (e.g. the inner surface of each reaction tube and the inner surface of a tube plate face), and treated with a solution of a nitrite. The solution of the nitrite is preferably an aqueous solution of 0.1-10 wt.% sodium nitrite. The formation of an aldehyde or the like is thought to be suppressed because an iron oxide coating membrane is formed by the surface treatment.
OKA YOSHIHISA
MURAOKA KENJI
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