The effect of temperature on the sulfonation of toluene by gaseous sulfur trioxide was investigated in a well-stirred glass reactor of 40cm diameter and 160cm length. It has been found that lower content of m-toluenesulfonic acid could be obtained at lower reaction temperature and lower conversion degree of toluene, whereas the content of p-toluenesulfonic acid seemed unaffected by these operating factors. A sharp' increase in viscosity of the reaction mixture occurred with increase in the conversion of toluene. A pilot-scale jet loop reactor (JLR) was constructed and successfully used to carry out this sulfonation reaction, toluenesulfonic acid product with m-isomer content of less than 1.2% and p-isomer content of around 85% could be directly obtained.
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