Fluidized catalyst beds reactor models

Type of Reaction and Application. An increased emphasis on gas-solid reactions has been evident for about a decade. Three of the papers in this symposium treat gas-solid reactions, two (13,18) dealing with coal combustion and the other (11) with catalyst regeneration. Of the four papers which consider solid-catalysed gas-phase reactions, one (15) deals with a specific application (production of maleic anhydride), and one (12) treats an unspecified consecutive reaction of the type A B C the other two (14,16) are concerned with unspecified first order irreversible reactions. The final paper (17) considers a relatively recent application, fluidized bed aerosol filtration. Principles of fluid bed reactor modeling are directly applicable to such a case Aerosol particles disappear by adsorption on the collector (fluidized) particles much as a gaseous component disappears by reaction in the case of a solid-catalysed reaction. 

The object of the following treatment is to establish a physically sound reactor model to obtain A or> based on the flow and transport properties of fluidized catalyst beds. Bed performance for chemical kinetics other than the first-order reaction may be computed after a sound bed performance has been established. 

A reactor model is developed to include reaction taking place in the dilute phase, and to be reasonably consistent with the known flow properties of fluidized catalyst beds operated under relatively high gas velocity. According to this model, reaction proceeds successively in the dense phase and in the dilute phase. 

The concept of the successive contact mechanism has been given its simplest form by dividing the fluidized catalyst bed into two parts—dense phase and dilute phase. The concept has been found to apply to bed performance, as shown in the preceding section. The reactor model has been developed on the basis of several simplifying assumptions, partly to retain mathematical simplicity as a workable design equation accounting for the relative effects of the variables, and partly due to a relative lack of information about bed performance. Further properties of the mechanism are examined here, particularly as to axial distribution of reactivity inside the bed. 

In the early days of fluidized bed reactor modelling, experimental testing of models consisted of measuring only overall conversions over severely limited ranges of such variables as particle size, temperature, bed depth, superficial gas velocity and catalyst activity. Since most models had at least one parameter which could be fitted, and since much of the work was for low conversions where predictions are insensitive to the model adopted because of control by kinetic rather than hydrodynamic factors, it was claimed that each model was successful. In the past decade, there has been considerable effort to discriminate between models based on more extensive measurements than conversion alone, such as concentration... 

Evaluation of the applicability of fluidized-bed-reactor modeling for the OCM reaction as a means of reactor simulation and scale-up. (It should be emphasized that the study of items (1) and (2) was not aimed at investigating the best possible catalyst from the point of view of maximizing selectivity or yield but to illustrate the general pattern of relationships and the methodology of modeling). 

Reactor/ Stripper Complete feed conversion and remove adsorbed hydrocarbons Bubbling bed reactor with two phases Switches to fluidized-bed reactor model for units with low catalyst holdup... 

Figure 11.10(b) can be modeled as a piston flow reactor with recycle. The fluid mechanics of spouting have been examined in detail so that model variables such as pressure drop, gas recycle rate, and solids circulation rate can be estimated. Spouted-bed reactors use relatively large particles. Particles of 1 mm (1000 pm) are typical, compared with 40-100 pm for most fluidizable catalysts. 

A mechanistic model for propane steam reforming on a bimetallic Co-Ni catalyst in fluidized bed reactor... 

Because of the inadequacies of the aforementioned models, a number of papers in the 1950s and 1960s developed alternative mathematical descriptions of fluidized beds that explicitly divided the reactor contents into two phases, a bubble phase and an emulsion or dense phase. The bubble or lean phase is presumed to be essentially free of solids so that little, if any, reaction occurs in this portion of the bed. Reaction takes place within the dense phase, where virtually all of the solid catalyst particles are found. This phase may also be referred to as a particulate phase, an interstitial phase, or an emulsion phase by various authors. Figure 12.19 is a schematic representation of two phase models of fluidized beds. Some models also define a cloud phase as the region of space surrounding the bubble that acts as a source and a sink for gas exchange with the bubble. 

A fluidized-bed reactor consists of three main sections (Figure 23.1) (1) the fluidizing gas entry or distributor section at the bottom, essentially a perforated metal plate that allows entry of the gas through a number of holes (2) the fluidized-bed itself, which, unless the operation is adiabatic, includes heat transfer surface to control T (3) the freeboard section above the bed, essentially empty space to allow disengagement of entrained solid particles from the rising exit gas stream this section may be provided internally (at the top) or externally with cyclones to aid in the gas-solid separation. A reactor model, as discussed here, is concerned primarily with the bed itself, in order to determine, for example, the required holdup of solid particles for a specified rate of production. The solid may be a catalyst or a reactant, but we assume the former for the purpose of the development. 

A fluidized bed reactor has a substantial free space above the main level of the catalyst for purpose of disengaging entrainment. In this region plug flow may be assumed to prevail. An overall appropriate model accordingly will consist of well mixed and bypass zones in parallel followed by a plug flow zone. The fraction of flow in bypass is 1-a and the fraction of vessel volume in plug flow is 2. Find the transfer function and equations for the responses to step and impulse inputs of tracer. 

Figure 7-4 Slurry reactor (left) for well-mixed gas-solid reactions and fluidized bed reactor (center) for liquid-solid reactions. At the right is shown a riser reactor in which the catalyst is carried with the reactants and separated and returned to the reactor. The slurry reactor is generally mixed and is described by the CSTR model, while the fluidized bed is described by the PFTR or CSTR models.

An advanced cracking evaluation-automatic production (ACE Model AP) fluidized bed microactivity unit was used to study the catalyst and feed interactions. The fluidized bed reactor was operated at 980°F (800 K). Every feed was tested on two different catalysts at three cat-to-oil ratios 4, 6, and 8. Properties of laboratory... 

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.

Mehta (34) has carried out a reactor network optimization study to find improved designs for the production of acrylonitrile in a collaboration between UMIST and one of its industrial partners. Most industrial installations employ fluidized-bed reactors (BP/Sohio process) with a well-mixed reaction zone. Previous process improvements have mainly resulted from better catalysts, which have produced an increase in yield from 58% to around 80%. The reaction model employed in the optimization study is taken from Ref. 81 and considers seven reactions and eight components. Air, pure oxygen, and propylene are available as raw material streams. The optimization study assumes negligible pressure drop along the reaction sections, isothermal and isobaric operation, and negligible mass gas-solid transfer effects. 

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