Patent ID: 7303732

Claim:
A tubular reactor comprising a tube having an inlet end into which a reaction mixture enters the tubular reactor, an outlet end from which a product stream emerges, and, located in said tube between said inlet and outlet ends, a sequence of 2 to 50 short static mixing elements separated by coalescing zones, wherein (a) the length of each static mixing element is no greater than about 6 times the diameter of that static mixing element, and (b) the length of each of said coalescing zones is at least about 4 times the diameter of that coalescing zone, and further wherein the static mixing elements are perforated plates oriented inside the tubular reactor substantially perpendicularly to the direction of flow of said reaction mixture and the perforated plates contain perforations over only ½ to 2/3 of the bottommost portion of its surface.