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ABSTRACT
The article deals with catalytic trickle bed reactor (CTBR) technology, which is widely used in the refinery and the petrochemical industries for hydro-treatments and partial oxidation reactions. A major difficulty in the reactor outlay is linked to the complexity of the gas-liquid flow (trickle) through the porous medium. Therefore, particular attention is given to the comprehension of the multiphase flow hydrodynamics. The phenomena observed at the scale of the catalytic particle, external and internal mass-transfer, are considered separately from the phenomena observed at the reactor scale, poor distribution of liquids, material and thermal axial and radial dispersion. The comprehension of these phenomena provides a reasoned approach to reactor modeling.
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Read the articleAUTHORS
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Sabine RODE: University Professor of Process Engineering - École Nationale Supérieure des Industries Chimiques (ENSIC) - Institut national polytechnique de Lorraine (INPL) Université de Lorraine
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Jean-Claude CHARPENTIER: Director of Research CE CNRS Emeritus (ENSIC/INPL/Université de Lorraine) - Past President of the European Chemical Engineering Federation - Former director of ENSIC, ESCPE Lyon and CNRS engineering sciences department
INTRODUCTION
Chemical reactions requiring the simultaneous presence of a gas, a liquid and a catalytic solid are frequently encountered in industrial practice, notably for :
hydrotreatment of petroleum fractions;
hydrogenation and partial oxidation of various petrochemical compounds;
the use of biological reactors.
To achieve contact between the three phases, the catalytic solid can be kept in suspension within the liquid, which is also contacted by the gas. Associated equipment includes three-phase bubble columns or stirred tanks, as well as three-phase fluidized beds.
The catalytic solid can also be arranged in a fixed bed, through which the gas and liquid flow. This technology is often preferred in industrial practice, both for its simplicity and for its robustness: there are no moving parts, and it does not require a solid separation step. What's more, commercial fixed-bed reactors can be very large: 10 to 30 m high, 1 to 4 m in diameter, with a characteristic catalytic particle size of around 1 to 3 mm. This configuration leads to a plug flow of the two phases, enabling high conversions to be achieved while optimizing selectivity. However, fixed-bed technology has a number of disadvantages linked to the difficulty of removing reaction heat and the inhomogeneity of flows on the reactor scale, the combination of which can lead to the formation of hot spots.
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KEYWORDS
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Unit operations. Chemical reaction engineering
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Bibliography
Websites
IFP Énergies nouvelles http://www.ifpenergiesnouvelles.fr
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Gas Liquid and Gas Liquid Solid Reactor Engineering Congress GLS http://www.gls10.org
Green Process Engineering http://www.gpe2011.com
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Honeywell WOP (desulfurization processes) http://www.wop.com
Axens IFP Group Technologies (desulfurization processes) http://www.axens.net
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