Fluid hydroforming process

Several processes based on non-precious metal also exist. Because of high catalyst deactivation rates with these catalyst systems, they all require some form of continuous regeneration. The Fluid Hydroforming process uses fluid solids techniques to move catalyst between reactor and regenerator TCR and Hyperforming use some form of a moving bed system. 

Another approach to scale-up is the use of simplified models with key parameters or lumped coefficients found by experiments in large beds. For example, May (1959) used a large scale cold reactor model during the scale-up of the fluid hydroforming process. When using the large cold models, one must be sure that the cold model properly simulates the hydrodynamics of the real process which operates at elevated pressure and temperature. 

Fluid Hydroforming An early catalytic reforming process in which the catalyst was used in a continuously regenerated fluidized bed. Developed by the MW Kellogg Company. 

Considerable development work has been and is now being carried out by many organizations to improve or replace the original catalyst as well as the component parts of the hydroforming unit itself. This paper describes a new and improved hydroforming process, which permits continuous operation through the use of a powdered or fluid catalyst. The new process is compared with thermal reforming and with the intermittent or cyclic fixed-bed process employed in the commercial plants mentioned above. 

Apparatus. It was believed that fluid hydroforming might be a considerable improvement over the fixed-bed process. The following incentives existed for development of fluid hydroforming ... 

The general use of automotive engines now being marketed with compression ratios higher than 7 or 8 to 1 awaits the widespread production of motor fuels on the order of 95 CFRR octane clear (1). The fluid catalyst hydroforming process is capable of meeting this challenge. 

Hydroforming Hydroforming is one of the new technologies in the manufacturing processes that has become popular in recent years due to the increasing demands for lightweight parts in various fields, such as bicycle, automotive, aircraft, and aerospace industries [ 1 ]. In hydroforming process, workpieces are uniformly plastically formed (stretched) in every direction under hydrostatic pressure up to 6000 bar (mostly up to 2500-3000 bar) of a fluid (water or oil) in a controlled manner. The final shape of the hydroformed piece results from the contact with the process fluid from one side and with a male or female die from the other side. 

Cataljdic reactions performed in fluid beds are not too numerous. Among these are the oxidation of o-xylene to phthalic anhydride, the Deacon process for oxidizing HCl to CI2, producing acrylonitrile from propylene and ammonia in an oxidation, and the ethylene dichloride process. In the petroleum industry, cataljdic cracking and catalyst regeneration is done in fluid beds as well as some hydroforming reactions. 

While there are hydroformers still operating, reforming today is generally carried out in fixed bed units using platinum catalysts, because of their superior product yield and distribution. Fluid platinum catalyst processes are not feasible because catalyst losses would be too great. 

Figure 1731. Fluidized bed reactor processes for the conversion of petroleum fractions, (a) Exxon Model IV fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) unit sketch and operating parameters. (Hetsroni, Handbook of Multiphase Systems, McGraw-Hill, New York, 1982). (b) A modem FCC unit utilizing active zeolite catalysts the reaction occurs primarily in the riser which can be as high as 45 m. (c) Fluidized bed hydroformer in which straight chain molecules are converted into branched ones in the presence of hydrogen at a pressure of 1500 atm. The process has been largely superseded by fixed bed units employing precious metal catalysts (Hetsroni, loc. cit.). (d) A fluidized bed coking process units have been built with capacities of 400-12,000 tons/day.

Tube hydroforming (THF) process is based on the introduction of a pressurized fluid coupled with an axial compression in a tubular workpiece. 

Octane number is probably affected more by the reaction temperature than by any other variable. The trend of octane number is indicated in Table 21-5 for a fixed percentage conversion. Similar data are. given for the Fluid process alone by Murphree and associates, f and for the T.C.C. process alone by Noll and associates. Table 21-5 does not apply directly to Cycloversion, Suspensoid, or Hydroforming operations, but the general trend is the same. 

---