Oxygen reactors

The typical bioreactor is a two-phase stirred tank. It is a three-phase stirred tank if the cells are counted as a separate phase, but they are usually lumped with the aqueous phase that contains the microbes, dissolved nutrients, and soluble products. The gas phase supplies oxygen and removes by-product CO2. The most common operating mode is batch with respect to biomass, batch or fed-batch with respect to nutrients, and fed-batch with respect to oxygen. Reactor aeration is discussed in Chapter 11. This present section concentrates on reaction models for the liquid phase. 

The reactor type strongly influences the temperature distribution and, in this way, the gas and residue products. The reaction temperature typically varies from about 800 to 1500°C, and up to a maximum of about 1900°C in entrained flow oxygen reactors. Each type of gasifier... 

A low level of hydrogen in the oxygenate reactor shifts the equilibrium conversion in a negative direction. To compensate for a lower conversion, the recycle must be increased to maintain the carbon efficiency in the loop. A high module, on the other hand, will also give a higher recycle flow due to the surplus of hydrogen. The recycle flow reaches its minimum at a module close to 2 (Fig. 8). 

With both valves above and below the platinized Chi a electrode closed, the photolytic reaction was allowed to carry on for a known duration of time. After a brief period 1 min) of cooling, the valve at (a) was opened. The distance between (a) and (b) (at which point the gas line reached the hydrogen and oxygen reactor) was 45 cm. The hydrogen and oxygen produced by water photolysis diffused along the... 

In reactors with uniform concentration of substrate cells and dissolved oxygen (reactors with lumped parameters), ) La can be calculated in batch operation by eq. (103) ... 

The Fischer-Tropsch reaction is essentially that of Eq. XVIII-54 and is of great importance partly by itself and also as part of a coupled set of processes whereby steam or oxygen plus coal or coke is transformed into methane, olefins, alcohols, and gasolines. The first step is to produce a mixture of CO and H2 (called water-gas or synthesis gas ) by the high-temperature treatment of coal or coke with steam. The water-gas shift reaction CO + H2O = CO2 + H2 is then used to adjust the CO/H2 ratio for the feed to the Fischer-Tropsch or synthesis reactor. This last process was disclosed in 1913 and was extensively developed around 1925 by Fischer and Tropsch [268]. 

Beryllium is added to copper to produce an alloy with greatly increased wear resistance it is used for current-carrying springs and non-sparking safety tools. It is also used as a neutron moderator and reflector in nuclear reactors. Much magnesium is used to prepare light nieial allo>s. other uses include the extraction of titanium (p. 370) and in the removal of oxygen and sulphur from steels calcium finds a similar use. 

A solution of 7-bromo-2-(fV-methylanilino)hept-2-enenitrile (145 mg, 0.52 mmol) in cyclohexane (60 ml) was placed in a quartz tube and purged with oxygen. The sample was irradiated for 8h in a Rayonet Model RPR-100 Reactor using 254 nm light. An oxygen atmosphere was maintained during... 

In the one-stage process (Fig. 2), ethylene, oxygen, and recycle gas are directed to a vertical reactor for contact with the catalyst solution under slight pressure. The water evaporated during the reaction absorbs the heat evolved, and make-up water is fed as necessary to maintain the desired catalyst concentration. The gases are water-scmbbed and the resulting acetaldehyde solution is fed to a distUlation column. The tad-gas from the scmbber is recycled to the reactor. Inert materials are eliminated from the recycle gas in a bleed-stream which flows to an auxdiary reactor for additional ethylene conversion. 

Although acetic acid and water are not beheved to form an azeotrope, acetic acid is hard to separate from aqueous mixtures. Because a number of common hydrocarbons such as heptane or isooctane form azeotropes with formic acid, one of these hydrocarbons can be added to the reactor oxidate permitting separation of formic acid. Water is decanted in a separator from the condensate. Much greater quantities of formic acid are produced from naphtha than from butane, hence formic acid recovery is more extensive in such plants. Through judicious recycling of the less desirable oxygenates, nearly all major impurities can be oxidized to acetic acid. Final acetic acid purification follows much the same treatments as are used in acetaldehyde oxidation. Acid quahty equivalent to the best analytical grade can be produced in tank car quantities without difficulties. 

High purity acetaldehyde is desirable for oxidation. The aldehyde is diluted with solvent to moderate oxidation and to permit safer operation. In the hquid take-off process, acetaldehyde is maintained at 30—40 wt % and when a vapor product is taken, no more than 6 wt % aldehyde is in the reactor solvent. A considerable recycle stream is returned to the oxidation reactor to increase selectivity. Recycle air, chiefly nitrogen, is added to the air introducted to the reactor at 4000—4500 times the reactor volume per hour. The customary catalyst is a mixture of three parts copper acetate to one part cobalt acetate by weight. Either salt alone is less effective than the mixture. Copper acetate may be as high as 2 wt % in the reaction solvent, but cobalt acetate ought not rise above 0.5 wt %. The reaction is carried out at 45—60°C under 100—300 kPa (15—44 psi). The reaction solvent is far above the boiling point of acetaldehyde, but the reaction is so fast that Httle escapes unoxidized. This temperature helps oxygen absorption, reduces acetaldehyde losses, and inhibits anhydride hydrolysis. 

In the first step cumene is oxidized to cumene hydroperoxide with atmospheric air or air enriched with oxygen ia one or a series of oxidizers. The temperature is generally between 80 and 130°C and pressure and promoters, such as sodium hydroxide, may be used (17). A typical process iavolves the use of three or four oxidation reactors ia series. Feed to the first reactor is fresh cumene and cumene recycled from the concentrator and other reactors. Each reactor is partitioned. At the bottom there may be a layer of fresh 2—3% sodium hydroxide if a promoter (stabilizer) is used. Cumene enters the side of the reactor, overflows the partition to the other side, and then goes on to the next reactor. The air (oxygen) is bubbled ia at the bottom and leaves at the top of each reactor. 

The temperatures decline from a high of 115°C ia the first reactor to 90°C ia the last. The oxygen ratio as a function of consumable oxygen is also... 

The catalytic vapor-phase oxidation of propylene is generally carried out in a fixed-bed multitube reactor at near atmospheric pressures and elevated temperatures (ca 350°C) molten salt is used for temperature control. Air is commonly used as the oxygen source and steam is added to suppress the formation of flammable gas mixtures. Operation can be single pass or a recycle stream may be employed. Recent interest has focused on improving process efficiency and minimizing process wastes by defining process improvements that use recycle of process gas streams and/or use of new reaction diluents (20-24). 

Oxygen is used in these microbiolreactions to degrade substrates, in this case organic wastes, to produce energy required for ceU synthesis and for respiration. A minimum residual of 0.5 to 2.0 mg/L DO is usually maintained in the reactors to prevent oxygen depletion in the treatment systems. 

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