Plug flow behavior

Flow in tubular reactors can be laminar, as with viscous fluids in small-diameter tubes, and greatly deviate from ideal plug-flow behavior, or turbulent, as with gases, and consequently closer to the ideal (Fig. 2). Turbulent flow generally is preferred to laminar flow, because mixing and heat transfer... 

The smaller reactor approaches plug-flow behavior and exhibits a large temperature gradient. In this case, external recycle provides the same degree of back-mixing as is provided by internal circulation in the larger diameter reactor. 

FIG. 23-7 Imp ulse and step inputs and responses. Typical, PFR and CSTR. (a) Experiment with impulse input of tracer, (h) Typical behavior area between ordinates at tg and ty equals the fraction of the tracer with residence time in that range, (c) Plug flow behavior all molecules have the same residence time, (d) Completely mixed vessel residence times range between zero and infinity, e) Experiment with step input of tracer initial concentration zero. (/) Typical behavior fraction with ages between and ty equals the difference between the ordinates, h — a. (g) Plug flow behavior zero response until t =t has elapsed, then constant concentration Cy. (h) Completely mixed behavior response begins at once, and ultimately reaches feed concentration. 

Unlike the slurry reaetor, a triekle-bed reaetor approaehes plug flow behavior and, therefore, the problem of separating the eatalyst from the produet stream does not exist. The low ratio of liquid to eatalyst in the reaetor minimizes the extent of homogeneous reaetion. However,... 

The first characteristic that has to be addressed is the plug-flow behavior of the... 

In Chapter 11, we indicated that deviations from plug flow behavior could be quantified in terms of a dispersion parameter that lumped together the effects of molecular diffusion and eddy dif-fusivity. A similar dispersion parameter is usefl to characterize transport in the radial direction, and these two parameters can be used to describe radial and axial transport of matter in packed bed reactors. In packed beds, the dispersion results not only from ordinary molecular diffusion and the turbulence that exists in the absence of packing, but also from lateral deflections and mixing arising from the presence of the catalyst pellets. These effects are the dominant contributors to radial transport at the Reynolds numbers normally employed in commercial reactors. 

Welschof (1962) carried out tests on dense phase plugs having a low velocity of 1 m/s. Later Lippert (1965) did an systematic analysis of the plug flow behavior. Following these researchers in the plug field were Weber (1973), Konrad et al. (1980) and Legel and Schwedes (1984). In... 

Packed beds usually deviate substantially from plug flow behavior. The dispersion model and some combinations of PFRs and CSTRs or of multiple CSTRs in series may approximate their behavior. 

Plug flow behavior all molecules have the same residence time. 

The fixed beds of concern here are made up of catalyst particles in the range of 2-5 mm dia. Vessels that contain inert solids with the sole purpose of improving mass transfer between phases and developing plug flow behavior are not in this category. Other uses of inert packings are for purposes of heat transfer, as in pebble heaters and induction heated granular beds—these also are covered elsewhere. 

Slurry reactors achieve a similar intimate contacting of oil and catalyst and yet may operate with a lower degree of backmixing than the ebullated or expanded bed. In the slurry design, heavy oil is mixed with finely divided catalyst particles and fed upward, with hydrogen, through an empty reactor vessel. Oil and catalyst flow concurrently and may approach plug-flow behavior. 

A reaction A——>P is to be performed in a PFR. The reaction follows first-order kinetics, and at 50 °C in the batch mode, the conversion reaches 99% in 60 seconds. Pure plug flow behavior is assumed. The flow velocity should be 1 m s"1 and the overall heat transfer coefficient 1000Wm 2 K"1. (Why is it higher than in stirred tank reactors ). The maximum temperature difference with the cooling system is 50 K. 

The mass balances [Eqs. (Al) and (A2)] assume plug-flow behavior for both the gas/vapor and liquid phases. However, real flow behavior is much more complex and constitutes a fundamental issue in multiphase reactor design. It has a strong influence on the reactor performance, for example, due to back-mixing of both phases, which is responsible for significant effects on the reaction rates and product selectivity. Possible development of stagnant zones results in secondary undesired reactions. To ensure an optimum model development for CD processes, experimental studies on the nonideal flow behavior in the catalytic packing MULTIPAK are performed (168). 

Reaction zones exhibit plug-flow behavior... 

A gasifier is a continuous gas process in conjunction with either a batch of solids or continuous solids feed and product removal. The gas phase passing up through the bed obeys plug flow behavior. In continuous solids handling, the bed is fed from the top and emptied from the bottom. These solids also obey plug flow assumptions with flow countercurrent to the gas phase. 

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