Method for the preparation of 1,2-dichloroethane

A method is disclosed for the preparation of 1,2-dichloroethane in a reactor by the reaction of gaseous ethylene with chlorine dissolved in a hot, catalyst-containing, liquid circulating stream that is under elevated pressure and consists of chlorinated hydrocarbons. All of the chlorine is absorbed outside of the reactor, at a temperature above 90.degree. C., a pressure of more than 4 bar, and an average residence time of less than 120 seconds. The reaction takes place at the phase boundary surface of a dispersion produced from gaseous ethylene and the chlorine-containing, liquid, circulating stream, at an energy dissipation density of 0.05 to 1000 kilowatts per cubic meter, a temperature of 90.degree. to 200.degree. C., and a pressure of 7 to 20 bar. Iron(III) chloride is used preferably as catalyst. Oxygen is used preferably as inhibitor for preventing the formation of byproducts. The separation of the unreacted amounts of ethylene and chlorine as well as other gaseous components from the product-containing circulating stream is performed preferably in an expansion tank.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
The present invention is in a method for the preparation of 
1,2-dichloroethane in a reactor by absorption of chlorine in a hot, 
catalyst-containing, liquid stream circulating under elevated pressure, 
which consists of chlorinated hydrocarbons, and reacting gaseous ethylene 
with the chlorine dissolved in the liquid phase. 
The chlorination of ethylene to 1,2-dichloroethane (EDC) is an exothermic 
reaction in which the released reaction heat is suitable for the 
production of steam at the rate of about 1 ton of stea per ton of EDC 
(EP-OS No. 0075 742). 
Different approaches are used in the known methods (U.S. Pat. No. 
4,347,039) for the recovery of this reaction heat at the highest possible 
EDC yield, a high ethylene conversion and a high time space yield. Thus, 
the reaction heat is removed either in the reactor by cooling systems 
installed within the reactor and by evaporative cooling of the reactor 
content, or outside of the reactor by product cooling and evaporation. 
Other differences lie in the manner in which the chlorine and ethylene 
reactants are fed into the reaction system, the configuration of the 
reaction system, in the way catalysts are used to promote the desired 
addition reaction to EDC and of inhibitors for reducing undesired 
substitution reactions, such as for example the formation of 
1,1,2-trichloroethane and other higher-boiling chlorinated hydrocarbons. 
In particular, those methods wherein the reaction is performed above 
100.degree. C. at a pressure of more than 3 bars while the reaction system 
is confined in a product circuit approach having a reasonable cost of 
recovery of reaction heat. In such methods the release of catalyst-free 
product from the product circuit containing the catalyst is generally 
performed by flash evaporation. 
As it is generally known, the efficiency of the recovery of energy, and 
especially the possible of producing technically useful steam, increases 
as the temperature level of the whole product circuit increases. On the 
other hand, it is also generally known that, as the temperature increases 
in the reactor and in the product circuit, the formation of byproducts, 
i.e., losses of EDC yield, due for example to substitution reactions and 
dehydrochlorinating cleavage of EDC, increases. 
In addition to this aspect, with its corresponding influencing factors, 
such as catalysts and inhibitors, for example, the maximum technically 
achievable reaction temperature and hence also reaction pressure in 
ethylene chlorination is determined by the level of the chlorine input 
pressure. In this case the chlorine, usually coming as cell chlorine 
directly from a chlorine-alkali electrolysis, is fed into the reactor 
after compression to about 3 bar. 
Directly increasing the chlorine input pressure to levels of 3 bar or more 
to obtain reaction temperatures of 100.degree. C. or more is technically 
difficult and involves an additional costly chlorine compression. The 
chlorine input pressure can indirectly be increased by absorption of 
chlorine into EDC and, as commonly practiced in the art in the case of a 
liquid, raising the pressure by means of a pump. In the case of EDC, this 
apparently technically simple and low-cost method of chlorine absorption 
in the cold product stream followed by pressure increase is an 
unsatisfactory method of increasing the energy recovery of the reaction 
heat, such as for example by steam generation, or for the problem of the 
formation of byproducts in this process. 
The important disadvantages of the formerly known application of the 
chlorine absorption/pressure increase method are the following: 
the necessary cooling of the product circuit to temperatures lower than 
40.degree. C. in order to perform the desired chlorine absorption, and the 
subsequent heating of the chlorine-containing EDC, necessitate a 
considerable expenditure of energy; 
due to the relatively high chlorine concentration in the EDC, of more than 
8% by weight, as a result of the chlorine absorption process, it is 
impossible to avoid--even despite the use of inhibitors such as 
oxygen--the undesirable formation of byproducts, especially due to 
substitution reactions, on account of the need to raise the temperature of 
this solution to close to the reaction temperature, and the long residence 
time which this entails between the chlorine absorption and the start of 
the reaction in the reactor. 
This heretofore unsatisfactory application of the chlorine 
absorption/pressure increase method has another disadvantageous effect. 
When this chlorine-containing EDC solution is heated to virtually the 
reaction temperature on outgassing of the chlorine from the EDC is 
unavoidable. A two-phase flow forms with elevated temperature and a high 
chlorine concentration at the phase boundary. This promotes the 
above-mentioned secondary reactions. 
The measures disclosed heretofore for the reduction of secondary reactions 
at a reaction temperature above 100.degree. C. are based largely on 
fluid-dynamic controlling factors in addition to the advantageous use of 
appropriate catalysts and inhibitors in the reaction system. For example, 
the attempt has been made by means of a very fine and very uniform 
distribution of the reactants to prevent irregularities of concentration 
and temperatures such as can occur for example, when chlorine and ethylene 
bubbles meet. These include efforts to forestall contact between the 
gaseous reactants chlorine and ethylene, by having the chlorine dissolve 
preferentially in EDC and bringing this solution into a reaction with the 
gaseous, very finely divided ethylene. 
U.S. Pat. No. 4,554,392 has recourse to this control of the reaction 
through the phase boundary. To do this, a reactor is selected in both 
cases which has the typical characteristics of a loop reactor, such as, 
for example, the feeding of product into the bottom part of the reactor 
with the flow configuration characteristic thereof, namely upward in the 
central inside tube and downward in the outer part, and a sufficiently 
great rate of circulation of the flow of, for example, 30 to 200 kilograms 
per square meter per second, or a velocity greater than 0.1 meter per 
second in the mixing zone of the inner tube. 
The examples of these methods which are herein given achieve only partially 
their aim of controlling the reaction at the phase boundary. For example, 
in these embodiments of the reactor the fine distribution of the ethylene 
bubbles is accomplished preferentially in a nozzle provided for the 
purpose at the bottom of the reactor and in the inside tube of the loop 
reactor. In spite of the stated rates of circulation, it is not possible 
to avoid completely the escape of the ethylene bubbles from the reactive 
phase boundary of the liquid reaction phase containing catalyst and 
chlorine into the gas phase above it which consists of EDC in vapor form, 
unreacted materials, such as chlorine and especially ethylene, as well as 
other inert gaseous components. Especially in the case of a boiling 
reactor, the formation of vapor bubbles in the upper part of the liquid 
reaction phase causes the ethylene bubbles therein to be carried over to a 
greater extent and thus to be withdrawn from the desired reaction at the 
phase boundary surface. 
The present invention is addressed to a method wherein chlorine is absorbed 
at a high temperature with a minimum formation of byproducts, without 
having to perform the above-described, disadvantageous cooling followed by 
heating of the product stream. A further object of the invention is to 
prevent any separation into a disperse gas-liquid phase and the gaseous 
phase situated above it at the phase boundary. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
These problems are solved by the present invention. The present invention 
is a method for the preparation of 1,2-dichloroethane in a reactor by 
absorption of chlorine in a hot, catalyst-containing, liquid stream 
circulating under elevated pressure, which consists of chlorinated 
hydrocarbons, and reacting gaseous ethylene with the chlorine dissolved in 
the liquid phase, introducing the solution and gaseous ethylene into the 
reactor to produce a dispersion having a phase boundary surface, at an 
energy dissipation density of 0.05 to 1000 kilowatts per cubic meter at a 
temperature of 90.degree. to 200.degree. C. and a pressure of 7 to 20 bars 
wherein reaction between ethylene and chlorine takes place to form the 
1,2-dichloroethane; and separating the 1,2-dichloroethane from a 
circulating stream from the reactor. 
It has been found that, in the chlorine absorption and the subsequent 
transport or storage of a solution of chlorine in EDC at elevated 
temperature, certain conditions must be maintained in order to minimize 
the undesired formation of byproducts. For example, it is advantageous in 
the chlorine absorption and in the transport of the EDC-chlorine solution 
at 100.degree. C. in the stream circulating between the point of 
introduction of the gaseous chlorine and the reactor to maintain a 
chlorine concentration of less than 3 percent by weight. Furthermore, an 
average residence time of less than 120 seconds should be maintained in 
the circulating stream from the injection of the chlorine for absorption 
to the beginning of the reaction with ethylene. Furthermore, the 
additional use of inhibitors to prevent the formation of byproducts is 
advantageous. For example, the addition of oxygen inhibits substitution 
reactions, i.e., the formation of 1,1,2-trichloroethane and other, 
higher-boiling chlorinated hydrocarbons. It has been found advantageous to 
use as an inhibitor oxygen or a gas containing oxygen, in the amount of 
0.05 to 0.3 percent by weight, reckoned as molecular oxygen, with respect 
to the amount of chlorine put into the reaction. 
Other known inhibitors, such as cresols for example, can be used in the 
method of the invention, either alone or in combination with oxygen. 
In the method of the invention, known catalysts for the reaction between 
chlorine and ethylene to form 1,2-dichloroethane can be used. 
Known catalysts are Lewis acids, iron(III) chloride, anhydrous tetrachloro 
ferrates (1-) and such substances that can generate tetrachloro ferrates 
(1-) from a reaction mixture. 
Especially the use of iron(III) chloride or a compound containing iron(III) 
chloride as a catalyst has been found advantageous. When the reaction 
system is filled with EDC, the catalyst is added through a dissolving 
tank. Preferably it is contained in the circulating stram in the amount of 
30 to 3000 ppm by weight, reckoned as ferric trichloride. 
To achieve the limited residence time of the chlorine during its 
absorption, as required by the method of the invention, substance-exchange 
apparatus having a specific exchange surface area of at least 1000 square 
meters per cubic meter, such as, for example, jet washers, are especially 
suitable. 
Another contribution to the solution of the problem to which the invention 
is addressed consists of the knowledge that, for the yield as well as the 
temperature and concentration program of the reaction, i.e., also for its 
selectivity at relatively high temperatures, a suitable energy dissipation 
density must prevail in the reactor, namely, one of 0.05 to 1000 kilowatts 
per cubic meter, at the phase boundary surface of the dispersion produced 
from gaseous ethylene and the circulating liquid containing chlorine. The 
energy dissipation density of this magnitude is necessary because the 
specific surface area of the ethylene bubbles is uniformly distributed in 
the method according to the invention. 
The energy dissipation density of the magnitude in accordance with the 
invention counteracts the tendency of the fine ethylene bubbles to combine 
to form large bubbles when the ethylene is introduced into the reactor, 
and thus it contributes to making a large specific surface area of 
ethylene available for the reaction. Furthermore, the energy dissipation 
density according to the invention prevents the phase separation--caused 
by the coalescence of the ethylene bubbles in the reactor--into a gaseous 
phase in the upper part and a heterogeneous gas-liquid phase in the lower 
part of the reactor. 
As soon as the gaseous ethylene is dispersed in the circulating liquid 
containing chlorine, the energy dissipation density according to the 
invention is produced and maintained by a device suitable for this 
purpose, such as a static mixer or a jet nozzle, for example. It has also 
proven advantageous to introduce any inhibitors that are to be used in the 
mixing zone of the reactor and there to distribute them with an energy 
dissipation density of 10 to 1000 kW per cubic meter. Surprisingly, it has 
furthermore been found that the coalescing tendency described above can be 
reduced, i.e., that the ethylene bubbles remain stable for a longer time 
under comparable fluid-dynamic conditions, if the concentration of the 
dissolved chlorine in the circulating stream amounts to at least 100 ppm 
by weight at the exit from the reactor. 
In the above-mentioned dispersion of the ethylene in, for example, a static 
mixer, the latter simultaneously serves as a reaction zone, i.e., a 
substantial part of the ethylene and chlorine reactants right in the 
mixing apparatus to form 1,2-dichloroethane. 
Then the highly disperse reaction phase is fed into a central 
pulse-exchange tube situated in the reactor, such that an energy 
dissipation density of 0.05 to 100 kW per cubic meter is established in 
the tube flow and in the outer margin of the tube. This gas-liquid 
dispersion, thus set in motion, leaves the reactor after a reversal of 
direction in the bottom part, without permitting phase separation in the 
reactor. At the same time, at an average residence time of less than 60 
minutes, the by far greatest part of the ethylene has reacted with the 
chlorine to form EDC. The still unreacted part of the ethylene in the 
remaining gas bubbles can be separated from the catalyst-containing 
circulating stream together with the gaseous EDC that has formed, in an 
expansion vessel connected to the output of the reactor. The recovery of 
the gaseous EDC from the other gaseous components is performed in 
condensers by cooling with water and/or brine. While the catalyst-free EDC 
is being fed possibly to further processing operations, the gaseous 
components still remaining are fed, if desired, to a post-reaction or 
directly to an exhaust gas processor. 
In addition to the energy recovery by condensation of the gaseous EDC from 
the expansion vessel, in the method of the invention the greatest part of 
the reaction heat is taken directly from the liquid, catalyst-containing 
EDC circulating stream by suitable heat exchangers and used for steam 
generation and for heating the bottom of distillation columns. 
Another especially advantageous embodiment of the invention for the 
recovery of energy from the EDC circuit is based on the additional 
compression of gaseous EDC in which a portion amounting up to a multiple 
of the produced EDC from the circuit 18 is evaporated in an additional 
expansion vessel 12a, then raised to a higher temperature compression, and 
is cooled, e.g., by the production of steam, and condensed. In this case 
it has been surprisingly found that a heat treatment of EDC at 165.degree. 
C. and the corresponding vapor pressure, for a period of 30 minutes, did 
not result in any undesired formation of byproduct. 
The liquid, catalyst-containing EDC circulating stream is recycled to the 
chlorine absorption. 
The various features of novelty which characterize the invention are 
pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part 
of this specification. For a better understanding of the invention, its 
operating advantages and specific objects obtained by its use, reference 
should be had to the accompanying drawings and descriptive matter in which 
there is illustrated and described a preferred embodiment of the invention 
.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
Referring to FIG. 1, chlorine gas 1, from a chlorine-alkali electrolysis 
for example, containing an inter gas content of up to 10% by volume 
consisting essentially of nitrogen, hydrogen and carbon dioxide, and 
having a pressure of about 3.2 bar, is mixed with air at 2a. The 
air-chlorine gas mixture is then contacted in a liquid jet washer 3, under 
a pressure of at least 4 bar, with a circulating stream 21. Stream 21 
consists essentially of EDC at a temperature of more than 90.degree. C. 
containing more than 30 ppm by weight of catalyst. Stram 21 is raised by 
the pump 23 to a driving jet pressure of at least 5 bar, such that the 
requirements explained above for the chlorine absorption (substance 
exchange at a specific exchange surface area of at least 1000 square 
meters per cubic meter and an average residence time from the addition of 
chlorine to the washer 3 to the beginning of the reaction with ethylene in 
the static mixer 8 of less than 120 seconds) are satisfied. Especially if 
the inert gas content in the electrolytic chlorine is high, the inert 
gases which are dissolved in the EDC or in the circulating stream can be 
carried off through the line 3a in the upper part of the washer 3. The EDC 
circuit stream 4, containing less than 3% chlorine by weight, is 
pressurized by pump 5 to about 2.5 bars above the prevailing reactor 
pressure whih is more than 6 bar. The preferred reactor pressure range is 
7 to 20 bar. The pressurizing of stream 4 results in an energy dissipation 
density of at least 0.05 kW per cubic meter in the static mixer 8 and in 
the pulse exchange tube 9, and will serve to establish the circulating 
stream 10 in the reactor 7. With a comparably high input pressure as in 
the case of stream 4 at the reactor entrance, a mass of ethylene virtually 
equivalent to the chlorine is introduced through the static mixer 8 into 
the reactor 7 such that a low chlorine concentration of 100 to about 300 
ppm by weight is established in the EDC circuit 11 at the reactor outlet. 
It has proven to be especially advantageous to introduce air acting as an 
inhibitor into the circulating stream 4 before the chlorine and ethylene 
reactants enter the static mixer 8 where they are homogenized. The 
reaction takes place at a temperature of 90.degree. to 200.degree. C., 
preferably 120.degree. to 160.degree. C., a pressure of 7 to 20 bars, and 
an energy dissipation density of 0.5 to 1000 kW per cubic meter. This 
energy dissipation density is calculated from the pressure drop and the 
volume flow rate of the liquid phase flowing through the static mixer 8 up 
to the outlet of the reactor 7. The velocity in the liquid phase amounts 
to at least 0.5 m/sec. This velocity prevails in the circulating stream 10 
up to the outlet of the reactor 7. The velocity of the liquid phase equals 
or is larger than the upward velocity of the bubbles so that a phase 
separation is avoided. By means of the internal tube 9 and the reversal 
24, the circulating stream 10 is produced. 
The virtually fully reacted reaction mixture leaves reactor 7, after an 
average residence time of the ethylene, from its entry into the reactor 7 
to the phase separation in the expansion vessel 12, of less than 60 
minutes, preferably 2 to 60 minutes, in the form of a gas-liquid 
dispersion 11, and is introduced into the expansion vessel 12. 
A phase separation into a gaseous phase and a liquid phase takes place in a 
vessel 12. The gaseous phases consists of inert-gas contents of the raw 
materials and of the inhibitors, unreacted chlorine and ethylene, volatile 
reaction products and EDC vapors, which are in equilibrium with the 
substances named above under the process conditions here involved. The 
liquid phase consists of EDC containing catalyst plus small amounts of 
dissolved reactants. The chlorine concentration in the circulating stream 
11 amounts preferably to 100 to 200 ppm by weight when it emerges from the 
reactor 7. By means of the expansion valve 13, the pressure in the 
expansion tank is reduced such that, under the conditions specified above, 
just as much EDC is evaporated as is formed in the reactor 7. The 
separation of the gaseous EDC from gas stream 14 into exhaust gas stream 
15 and the raw EDC stream 17 is performed, for example, by a single or 
multiple direct or indirect condensation. In FIGS. 1 and 2, the 
condensation is performed, for example, in the single, indirect form in 
heat exchanger 16. 
In addition to the objective of energy recovery, there is the matter of 
exhaust gas treatment and the processing of the raw EDC, which are 
important in the separation of the raw EDC from the gas stream 14. The 
circulating liquid EDC 18, only slighly cooled by the EDC evaporation in 
vessel 12, is fed to an energy recovery stage, such as a steam recovery 
system or to a system for heating the bottom of a still. This stage can 
consist, for example, of a plurality of suitable heat exchangers 19 and 20 
(see FIG. 1). 
In an especially advantageous embodiment of the process, as shown in FIG. 
2, a portion up to a multiple of the produced EDC is evaporated from the 
circulating stream 18 in an additional expansion vessel 12a, raised to a 
higher temperature by compression in a compressor 12b, then cooled and 
condensed in the heat exchanger 12c, e.g., by the production of steam. 
Then steam will form at a higher pressure in the heat exchanger 12c than 
corresponds to the temperature at the outlet of the EDC circulating stream 
11 from the reactor 7. The circulating EDC stream 18c is heated by the 
heat exchangers 19 and 20 preferably to such a temperature that up to 3% 
of chlorine, by weight, is absorbed in the washer 3. 
An intermittent release of a partial amount 22 from the circulating stream 
21 is necessary whenever the content of 1,1,2-trichloroethane and other 
higher-boiling chlorinated hydrocarbons is equal to or greater than 1% by 
weight and an iron(III) chloride catalyst concentration of 2000 ppm by 
weight is exceeded. 
EXAMPLE 1 (FIG. 1) 
The apparatus represented diagrammatically in FIG. 1 was filled with 2200 
kg of high-purity ethylene dichloride (EDC). In this circulating mass, 
1000 mg of iron(III) chloride per kilogram of EDC had already been 
dissolved as catalyst. The pH of the catalyst solution was 2.4. 
For the chlorine absorption in the liquid jet washer 3, 400 kg/h of 
electrolytic chlorine 1 with an inert gas content of 5% by volume and 2 
kg/h of air 2 were introduced together into the suction line of the washer 
through the line 2a, and dissolved within about 50 seconds in a stream of 
EDC circulating at 22 t/h at a temperature of 99.degree. C. and a pressure 
in the washer of 5 bar. The circulating stream served as a driving jet and 
for this purpose had to be raised by the pump 23 to an input pressure of 
7.5 bar. The chlorine-containing circulating stream 4 was raised by pump 5 
to a pressure of 10 bar, and 1 kg/h of air was added to it through line 2b 
before entry into the reactor 7. To this chlorine-containing circulating 
stream approximately 153 kg/h of ethylene pressurized to 11 bar were 
introduced through the static mixer 8 into the reactor 7 which was 
completely filled with EDC. By a fine regulation of the ethylene stream 6, 
the chlorine concentration in the EDC circuit 11 was adjusted to 
approximately 200 ppm by weight. The reaction of the chlorination of 
ethylene to EDC, taking place in a gas/liquid dispersion, for a reactor 
capacity of 1.1 cubic meter, an energy dissipation density in the reactor 
of approximately 1 kW per cubic meter, and a reaction pressure of 8 bar, 
resulted in a temperature of 132.degree. C. at the outlet from the 
reactor. 
At this temperature the almost completely reacted circulating stream 11 
enters the expansion tank 12. By means of a level control an amount of EDC 
is vaporized with the gaseous components through the pressiure release 
valve 13 such that a constant level is produced in the expansion tank. The 
amount of heat that is released upon the separation of the raw EDC 17 from 
the exhaust gas 15 by condensation in the heat exchanger 16 was used, for 
example, for preheating boiler feed water. The circulating stram 18, 
cooled to about 128.degree. C., is cooled in the heat exchangers 19 and 20 
to 99.degree. C., producing 450 kg/h of a saturated steam at 118.degree. 
C. and 1.8 bar. 
An evaluation showed the following results: 
Conversion of ethylene: 99.6% 
conversion, ethylene to EDC: 98.9% 
resulting in a yield of: 98.5% 
of the theory. 
EXAMPLE 2 
In contrast to Example 1, with a comparable experimental set-up, the mass 
stream of the reactant chlorine 1 was reduced to 200 kg/h and that of the 
ethylene 6 was reduced to 77 kg/h, and the flow of the air at 2a and 2b 
was reduced by one-half. 
Under otherwise the same reaction conditions, such as the charge of 2200 
kg, the catalyst concentration of 1000 ppm by weight, the EDC stream 
circulating at 22 metric tons of EDC per hour, and the same pressures as 
in Example 1, the temperature in the EDC stream 21 was raised from the 
former 99.degree. C. to 120.degree. C. Under these absorption and reaction 
conditions, a temperature of 135.degree. C. established itself at the 
outlet from the reactor. 
After the separation of the product EDC in the expansion tank 12 by 
evaporation, a temperature established itself in the EDC stream 18 of 
133.degree. C. The stream 21, cooled to 120.degree. C. in the heat 
exchangers 19 and 20, was used for the production of 220 kg/h of saturated 
steam at a temperature of 122.degree. C. and a pressure of about 2 bar. 
Evaluation gave the following results: 
Conversion of ethylene: 99.9% 
conversion, ethylene to EDC: 99.3% 
resulting in a yield of: 99.2% 
of the theory. 
EXAMPLE 3 (FIG. 2) 
The experiment performed in Example 3 under the same conditions as in 
Example 2 differs in that about 1.5 t/h of EDC 18a from the EDC stream 18 
flowing at 22 t/h was vaporized through the relief valve 13a in the 
expansion tank 12a and fed to the vapor compressor 12b. The EDC vapor was 
compressed to a pressure of 5.8 bar and left the compressor with a 
temperature of about 150.degree. C., and was then condensed in the heat 
exchanger 12c and combined with the catalyst-containing stream 18b. This 
circulating stream 18c passed, as previously described, through the heat 
exchangers 19 and 20. The saturated steam thus produced had a pressure of 
3 bar, about 1 bar higher than in the case of Example 2. 
The ethylene conversion and the EDC yield were not affected by this, and 
corresponded to the data given in Example 2. 
EXAMPLE 4 
In an experiment similar to Example 2, the circulating stream 21 was again 
reduced by one-half, and the average residence time in the chlorine 
absorption and in the reactor was increased at chlorine concentrations 
comparable to Example 1. An evaluation was made taking into account a 
corresponding reduction of the energy dissipation density to about half of 
that selected in Examples 1 to 3, at temperatures in the chlorine 
absorption in washer 3 and at the output of the reactor similar to those 
in Example 1, and the results were as follows: 
Conversion of ethylene: 99.4% 
conversion of ethylene to EDC: 98.0% 
resulting in a yield of: 97.4% 
of the theory. 
It will be understood that the specification and examples are illustrative 
but not limitative of the present invention and that other embodiments 
within the spirit and scope of the invention will suggest themselves to 
those skilled in the art.