Laboratory reactors operating conditions

A purchasable cross-flow heat exchanger for application in laboratory-, pilot- and production-scale plants was developed by FZK. By incorporation of a catalyst on the quadratic plates inside the heat exchanger, it can also be used as a catalytic wall reactor. Operating conditions up to 850 °C (stainless steel) and pressures of more than 100 bar are possible, and the specific inner surface area is up to 30 000 m m. The reactors can be obtained in many materials and three different sizes with a maximum flow of 6500kgh (water). Therefore, the reactors can be adjusted for various processes, and all types of catalyst deposition techniques are possible [111]. This reactor has already been applied to the catalytic oxidation of H2 by Janicke et al. [112], for example. 

In gradientless reactors the catalytic rate is measured under highly, even if not completely uniform conditions of temperature and concentration. The reason is that, if achieved, the subsequent mathematical analysis and kinetic interpretation will be simpler to perform and the results can be used more reliably. The many ways of approximating gradientless operating conditions in laboratory reactors will be discussed next. 

The ROTOBERTY internal recycle laboratory reactor was designed to produce experimental results that can be used for developing reaction kinetics and to test catalysts. These results are valid at the conditions of large-scale plant operations. Since internal flow rates contacting the catalyst are known, heat and mass transfer rates can be calculated between the catalyst and the recycling fluid. With these known, their influence on catalyst performance can be evaluated in the experiments as well as in production units. Operating conditions, some construction features, and performance characteristics are given next. 

The model is able to predict the influence of mixing on particle properties and kinetic rates on different scales for a continuously operated reactor and a semibatch reactor with different types of impellers and under a wide range of operational conditions. From laboratory-scale experiments, the precipitation kinetics for nucleation, growth, agglomeration and disruption have to be determined (Zauner and Jones, 2000a). The fluid dynamic parameters, i.e. the local specific energy dissipation around the feed point, can be obtained either from CFD or from FDA measurements. In the compartmental SFM, the population balance is solved and the particle properties of the final product are predicted. As the model contains only physical and no phenomenological parameters, it can be used for scale-up. 

For all likely operating conditions, (ie., for t < X), the appropriate values of the concentration and the polymerization rate constant are the values calculated at t = t ( 2). To prove this, the exit age distribution function for a backmix reactor was used to weight the functions for Cg and kj and the product was integrated over all exit ages (6). It is enlightening at this point to compare equation 18 with one that describes the yield attainable in a typical laboratory semibatch reactor at comparable conditions. ... 

The design equations for a CSTR do not require that the reacting mixture has constant physical properties or that operating conditions such as temperature and pressure be the same for the inlet and outlet environments. It is required, however, that these variables be known. Pressure in a CSTR is usually determined or controlled independently of the extent of reaction. Temperatures can also be set arbitrarily in small, laboratory equipment because of excellent heat transfer at the small scale. It is sometimes possible to predetermine the temperature in industrial-scale reactors for example, if the heat of reaction is small or if the contents are boiling. This chapter considers the case where both Pout and Tout are known. Density and Q ut wiU not be known if they depend on composition. A steady-state material balance gives... 

Collect together all the kinetic and thermodynamic data on the desired reaction and the side reactions. It is unlikely that much useful information will be gleaned from a literature search, as little is published in the open literature on commercially attractive processes. The kinetic data required for reactor design will normally be obtained from laboratory and pilot plant studies. Values will be needed for the rate of reaction over a range of operating conditions pressure, temperature, flow-rate and catalyst concentration. The design of experimental reactors and scale-up is discussed by Rase (1977). 

Thus, for this reaction, a substantial temperature difference exists between the solid surface and the bulk fluid. It has a far greater influence on the observed rate than the corresponding concentration difference. Differences of this magnitude can clearly lead to complications in the analysis of data obtained in laboratory scale reactors. If such differences will exist at the operating conditions to be employed in a commercial scale reactor, the design engineer must be sure to take them into account in his analysis. 

Laboratory reactors and industrial scale equipment are seldom operated under similar flow and heat transfer conditions. To obtain a... 

Only a few microwave reactors equipped with efficient temperature control systems for safe microwave synthesis at laboratory scale are currently available on the market. These systems lead to reproducible operating conditions. 

The RC1 is an automated laboratory batch/semi-batch reactor for calorimetric studies which has proven precision. The calorimetric principle used and the physical design of the system are sound. The application of the RC1 extends from process safety assessments including calorimetric measurements, to chemical research, to process development, and to optimization. The ability of the RC1 to generate accurate and reproducible data under simulated plant scale operating conditions may result in considerably reduced testing time and fewer small scale pilot plant runs. 

Novel Processing Schemes Various separators have been proposed to separate the hydrogen-rich fuel in the reformate for cell use or to remove harmful species. At present, the separators are expensive, brittle, require large pressure differential, and are attacked by some hydrocarbons. There is a need to develop thinner, lower pressure drop, low cost membranes that can withstand separation from their support structure under changing thermal loads. Plasma reactors offer independence of reaction chemistry and optimum operating conditions that can be maintained over a wide range of feed rates and H2 composition. These processors have no catalyst and are compact. However, they are preliminary and have only been tested at a laboratory scale. 

---