Hydrogen chloride is produced by burning chlorine with an excess of hydrogen. The reaction is highly exothermic and reaches equilibrium very rapidly. The equilibrium mixture contains approximately 4% free chlorine but this is rapidly combined with the excess hydrogen as the mixture is cooled. Below 200 °C the conversion of chlorine is essentially complete.
The burner is fitted with a cooling jacket, which cools the exit gases to 200 °C. The gases are further cooled, to 50°C, in an external heat exchanger.
For a production rate of 10,000 tons per year of hydrogen chloride, calculate the heat removed by the burner jacket and the heat removed in the external cooler. Take the excess hydrogen as 1% over stoichiometric. The hydrogen supply contains 5% inerts (take as nitrogen) and is fed to the burner at 25 °C. The chlorine is essentially pure and is fed to the burner as a saturated vapor.
The burner operates at 1.5 bar