Phosphorus oxide and phosphoric acid production processes

A process for the manufacture of phosphorus (III) oxide, the process comprising:

• in a reactor unit, reacting phosphorus with oxygen, thereby forming an intermediate reaction product stream comprising P2O3 and one or more byproducts;
• in a quenching unit, quenching the intermediate reaction product stream by contacting with a quenching liquid, thereby forming a reaction product slurry comprising liquid P4O6 and one or more byproducts;
• separating solid components of the reaction product slurry therefrom, thereby forming a slurry byproduct stream comprising the one or more solid byproducts and a crude product stream comprising liquid P4O6;
• introducing at least a portion of the slurry byproduct stream into a vaporizer unit, thereby forming a vaporized recycle stream, wherein the vaporizer unit is separate from the reactor unit;
• and
• introducing at least a portion of the vaporized recycle stream into the reactor unit.

A process for the manufacture of phosphorus (III) oxide, the process comprising:

• in a reactor unit, reacting phosphorus with oxygen, thereby forming an intermediate reaction product stream comprising P2O3 and one or more byproducts;
• in a quenching unit, quenching the intermediate reaction product stream by contacting with a quenching liquid, thereby forming a reaction product slurry comprising P4O6 and one or more byproducts;
• recovering a first byproduct stream from the reaction product slurry;
• introducing an oxygen-containing gas along with the first byproduct stream into a vaporizer unit, wherein the components of the first byproduct stream are vaporized to form a vaporized recycle stream comprising one or more oxides of phosphorous of the general formula PxOy where x is from 1-4, y is from 1-10, wherein optionally phosphorus (P4) is introduced into the vaporizer unit along with the oxygen-containing gas and first byproduct stream, wherein the vaporizer unit is separate from the reactor unit;
• and
• introducing at least a portion of the vaporized recycle stream into the reactor unit.