Patent ID: 7371882

Claim:
A method for producing a nitrile compound, comprising reacting a carbon ring compound having organic substituents or a heterocyclic compound having organic substituents with ammonia and a gas containing oxygen, by a gas phase reaction using a fluidized bed catalyst, in a reactor comprising plural cooling tubes which are disposed in a cylindrical fluidized catalyst bed having a diameter of 2.0 meters or greater, (a) wherein said plural cooling tubes include (i) cooling tubes of a partial vaporization type in which a portion of a cooling medium is vaporized in the tubes and (ii) cooling tubes of a complete vaporization type in which an entire cooling medium is vaporized in the cooling tubes, (b) wherein an equivalent diameter defined by equation (1) in a horizontal section of a region in the fluidized catalyst bed where the cooling tubes exist is in a range of 0.2 to 2.0 m and at least a portion of the cooling tubes exists in a circle having a same diameter as the equivalent diameter and placed in the section, equation (1) being: DE= 4 ×AF/LW (1) wherein DE (m): the equivalent diameter AF (m 2 ): an area of a horizontal section of a flow route of the fluidized catalyst bed LW (m): a length of circumferences where the horizontal section of the flow route contacts the fluidized catalyst bed (a circumferential length of dipping), and (c) wherein a ratio (S 2 /S 1 ) of a surface area (S 2 ) to a surface area (S 1 ) of the cooling tubes is in a range of 0.01 to 0.30, wherein S 1 (m 2 ) represents an entire surface area of the cooling tubes existing in a vertical cylinder having, in a region in the fluidized catalyst bed where the cooling tubes exist, a bottom face as a horizontal section of the region and a height; and S 2 (m 2 ) represents a surface area of cooling tubes in use existing in a vertical cylinder having a bottom face as a circular section which is present in a same plane as that of the bottom face of the cylinder described for S 1 and has a same diameter as the equivalent diameter and a same height as that of the cylinder described for S 1 .