Reactor inlet

In describing reactor performance, selectivity is usually a more meaningful parameter than reactor yield. Reactor yield is based on the reactant fed to the reactor rather than on that which is consumed. Clearly, part of the reactant fed might be material that has been recycled rather than fresh feed. Because of this, reactor yield takes no account of the ability to separate and recycle unconverted raw materials. Reactor yield is only a meaningful parameter when it is not possible for one reason or another to recycle unconverted raw material to the reactor inlet. By constrast, the yield of the overall process is an extremely important parameter when describing the performance of the overall plant, as will be discussed later. 

Because we require a pure product, a separator is needed. The unreacted FEED is usually too valuable to be disposed of and is therefore recycled to the reactor inlet via a pump or compressor (see Fig. 4.16). In addition, disposal of unreacted FEED rather than recycling creates an environmental problem. 

Laboratory studies indicate that a hydrogen-toluene ratio of 5 at the reactor inlet is required to prevent excessive coke formation in the reactor. Even with a large excess of hydrogen, the toluene cannot be forced to complete conversion. The laboratory studies indicate that the selectivity (i.e., fraction of toluene reacted which is converted to benzene) is related to the conversion (i.e., fraction of toluene fed which is reacted) according to ... 

The hydrogen in the vapor stream is a reactant and hence should be recycled to the reactor inlet (Fig. 4.8). The methane enters the process as a feed impurity and is also a byproduct from the primary reaction and must be removed from the process. The hydrogen-methane separation is likely to be expensive, but the methane can be removed from the process by means of a purge (see Fig. 4.8). 

Wastewater leaves the process from the bottom of the second column and the decanter of the azeotropic distillation column. Although both these streams are essentially pure water, they will nevertheless contain small quantities of organics and must be treated before final discharge. This treatment can be avoided altogether by recycling the wastewater to the reactor inlet to substitute part of the freshwater feed (see Fig. 10.36). 

Figure 13.1a shows two possible thermal profiles for exothermic plug-fiow reactors. If the rate of heat removal is low and/or the heat of reaction is high, then the temperature of the reacting stream will increase along the length of the reactor. If the rate of heat removal is high and/or the heat of reaction is low, then the temperature will fall. Under conditions between the two profiles shown in Fig. 13.1a, a maximum can occur in the temperature at an intermediate point between the reactor inlet and exit. 

Hydrothermal Synthesis Systems. Of the unit operations depicted in Figure 1, the pressurized sections from reactor inlet to pressure letdown ate key to hydrothermal process design. In consideration of scale-up of a hydrothermal process for high performance materials, several criteria must be considered. First, the mode of operation, which can be either continuous, semicontinuous, or batch, must be determined. Factors to consider ate the operating conditions, the manufacturing demand, the composition of the product mix (single or multiple products), the amount of waste that can be tolerated, and the materials of constmction requirements. Criteria for the selection of hydrothermal reactor design maybe summarized as... 

The catalyst is then transferred back to the first process reactor and is reheated to the reforming process temperature at the reactor inlet using a flow of hydrogen-rich process recycle gas, thereby achieving reduction of the platinum to a catalyticaUy active state. 

The conditions for the carbon bum step are typically less than about 1.0 mol % oxygen, 400°C inlet temperature, 455°C maximum oudet temperature, which is controlled by adjusting the oxygen content of the circulating gas, and 0.45 to 2.2 MPa. The carbon bum is considered to be complete when no exotherm is observed for several hours. The oxygen concentration at all reactor inlets and outlets should be equal at this point. 

Carbon Laydown. The potential for carbon laydown is readily estimated from the thermodynamics of Reactions 4 and 5. The areas where carbon laydown, according to these reactions, is thermodynamically possible were developed by Gruber (36). It is readily seen that carbon laydown via Reaction 4 is thermodynamically favorable at the reactor inlet for practically any commercially conceivable feed gas composition. As noted by Gruber (36), carbon laydown is thermodynamically unfavorable at the reactor outlet for practically all commercially conceivable methanator conditions. The methanation reactor will therefore, in practice, have two zones—the first is a finite zone between the inlet and some way down the catalyst bed where carbon laydown is thermodynamically possible, and the second zone is the balance of the reactor. 

The selection of optimum reactor inlet and outlet temperatures is affected by catalyst activity, and catalyst stability, and the need to minimize operating and investment costs. When the special BASF methanation catalyst is used, inlet temperatures of 260°-300°C or even lower are quite acceptable (see Table II). The final decision on design inlet temperature is affected by engineering requirements. 

Finch at (28), show three "stratifying polymerizers" rather than the design combinations described earlier by Ruffing et al (27). The reactors operate at inlet and outlet temperatures respectively of 120 to 135°C, 135 to 145°C, and 145 to 170 C. The first reactor effluent contains 18 to 20% polystyrene and a portion of this stream is recirculated back to the reactor inlet such that the inlet stream polystyrene concentration is as high as 13.5%. This recirculation is claimed to improve rubber phase particle size control and end use properties. 

HEATRO = heat of reaction for the polymerization, cal/mole TF = reactor inlet temperature, °C DM0 = reactor fluid density, mole/l BETA = 3-scission reaction rate constant... 

Although they are both flow reactors, there are large differences in the behavior of PFRs and CSTRs. The reaction rate decreases as the reactants are consumed. In piston flow, the reactant concentration gradually declines with increasing axial position. The local rate is higher at the reactor inlet than at the outlet, and the average rate for the entire reactor will correspond to some average composition that is between and In contrast, the entire... 

To find u, it is necessary to use some ancillary equations. As usual in solving initial value problems, we assume that all variables are known at the reactor inlet so that (Ac)i UinPin will be known. Equation (3.2) can be used to calculate m at a downstream location if p is known. An equation of state will give p but requires knowledge of state variables such as composition, pressure, and temperature. To find these, we will need still more equations, but a closed set can eventually be achieved, and the calculations can proceed in a stepwise fashion down the tube. 

Recycling of partially reacted feed streams is usually carried out after the product is separated and recovered. Unreacted feedstock can be separated and recycled to (ultimate) extinction. Figure 4.2 shows a different situation. It is a loop reactor where some of the reaction mass is returned to the inlet without separation. Internal recycle exists in every stirred tank reactor. An external recycle loop as shown in Figure 4.2 is less common, but is used, particularly in large plants where a conventional stirred tank would have heat transfer limitations. The net throughput for the system is Q = but an amount q is recycled back to the reactor inlet so that the flow through the reactor is Qin + q- Performance of this loop reactor system depends on the recycle ratio qlQin and on the type of reactor that is in the loop. Fast external recycle has... 

Specify the number of radial increments, Itotal, and the values for vise (i) andrho(i) at each radial position. Also, the average density at the reactor inlet, rhoin, must be specified. 

Washout experiments can be used to measure the residence time distribution in continuous-flow systems. A good step change must be made at the reactor inlet. The concentration of tracer molecules leaving the system must be accurately measured at the outlet. If the tracer has a background concentration, it is subtracted from the experimental measurements. The flow properties of the tracer molecules must be similar to those of the reactant molecules. It is usually possible to meet these requirements in practice. The major theoretical requirement is that the inlet and outlet streams have unidirectional flows so that molecules that once enter the system stay in until they exit, never to return. Systems with unidirectional inlet and outlet streams are closed in the sense of the axial dispersion model i.e., Di = D ut = 0- See Sections 9.3.1 and 15.2.2. Most systems of chemical engineering importance are closed to a reasonable approximation. 

A inlet Cross-sectional area at reactor inlet Prob. 3.6... 

The characterization is performed by means of residence time distribution (RTD) investigation [23]. Typically, holdup is low, and therefore the mean residence time is expected to be relatively short Consequently, it is required to shorten the distance between the pulse injection and the reactor inlet. Besides, it is necessary to use specific experimental techniques with fast time response. Since it is rather difficult, in practice, to perfectly perform a Dirac pulse, a signal deconvolution between inlet and outlet signals is always required. 

The other boundary conditions are relatively simple. The temperature and species composition far from the disk (the reactor inlet) are specified. The radial and circumferential velocities are zero far from the disk a boundary condition is not required for the axial velocity at large x. The radial velocity on the disk is zero, the circumferential velocity is determined from the spinning rate W = Q, and the disk temperature is specified. 

Figure 6. Species profiles in a rotating disk CVD reactor. Inlet gas is 0.1 percent silane in a carrier of 99.9 percent helium. The disk temperature is 1000 K and the spin rate is 1000 rpm.

We first explain the setting of reactors for all CFD simulations. We used Fluent 6.2 as a CFD code. Each reactant fluid is split into laminated fluid segments at the reactor inlet. The flow in reactors was assumed to be laminar flow. Thus, the reactants mix only by molecular diffusion, and reactions take place fi om the interface between each reactant fluid. The reaction formulas and the rate equations of multiple reactions proceeding in reactors were as follows A + B R, ri = A iCaCb B + R S, t2 = CbCr, where R was the desired product and S was the by-product. The other assumptions were as follows the diffusion coefficient of every component was 10" m /s the reactants reacted isothermally, that is, k was fixed at... 

The two BCs of the TAP reactor model (1) the reactor inlet BC of the idealization of the pulse input to tiie delta function and (2) the assumption of an infinitely large pumping speed at the reactor outlet BC, are discussed. Gleaves et al. [1] first gave a TAP reactor model for extracting rate parameters, which was extended by Zou et al. [6] and Constales et al. [7]. The reactor equation used here is an equivalent form fi om Wang et al. [8] that is written to be also applicable to reactors with a variable cross-sectional area and diffusivity. The reactor model is based on Knudsen flow in a tube, and the reactor equation is the diffusion equation ... 

A complete reactor module was built, consisting of the actual micro reactor and an encasement that serves for temperature setting [28], The latter consists of two parts, a furnace for setting the high temperature in the reactor inlet collection zone and in the reaction zone and a cooler for the outlet collection zone. The micro reactor has a housing with standard tube connections. An electric furnace serves for heating, Temperatures can be measured in the furnace, at the furnace/micro reactor border and in the outlet collection zone. For thermal insulation, a 2 mm ceramic... 

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