Practical Reactors

The fluidized-bed reactor is far more difficult to scale up than the fixed-bed reactor. Practical considerations involved in its operations are briefly outlined here. 

J. Worstell, Adiabatic Fixed-Bed Reactors Practical Guides in Chemical Engineering, Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford, UK, 2014. 

From reactor practice it is known that dosing with hydrogen reduces the stress corrosion cracking susceptibility of sensitised ISCrSNi because hydrogen combines with oxygen and as a result the crack propagation reduces, in particular, the cracks present are stopped from further growth. 

The inspection scope and frequency compares favorably with and, in some instances, exceeds commercial reactor practices. 

For all reversible secondary reactions, deliberately feeding BYPRODUCT to the reactor inhibits its formation at the source by shifting the equihbrium of the secondary reaction. This is achieved in practice by separating and recycling BYPRODUCT rather than separating and disposing of it directly. 

The choice of reactor temperature depends on many factors. Generally, the higher the rate of reaction, the smaller the reactor volume. Practical upper limits are set by safety considerations, materials-of-construction limitations, or maximum operating temperature for the catalyst. Whether the reaction system involves single or multiple reactions, and whether the reactions are reversible, also affects the choice of reactor temperature, as we shall now discuss. 

This is an endothermic reaction accompanied by an increase in the number of moles. High conversion is favored by high temperature and low pressure. The reduction in pressure is achieved in practice by the use of superheated steam as a diluent and by operating the reactor below atmospheric pressure. The steam in this case fulfills a dual purpose by also providing heat for the reaction. 

By contrast with ideal models, practical reactors must consider many factors other than variations in temperature, concentration, and residence time. Practical reactors deviate from the three idealized models but can be classified into a number of common types. 

In fact, it is often possible with stirred-tank reactors to come close to the idealized well-stirred model in practice, providing the fluid phase is not too viscous. Such reactors should be avoided for some types of parallel reaction systems (see Fig. 2.2) and for all systems in which byproduct formation is via series reactions. 

In practice, there is likely to be a trace of decane in the reactor eflfluent. However, this should not be a problem, since it can either be recycled with the unreacted chlorine or leave with the product, monochlorodecane (providing it can still meet product specifications). 

Again, in practice, there is likely to be a trace of chlorine in the reactor effluent. This can be recycled to the reactor with the unreacted decane or allowed to leave with the hydrogen chloride byproduct (providing this meets with the byproduct specification). 

An arrangement is to be chosen to inhibit the side reaction, i.e., give low selectivity losses. The side reaction is suppressed by starving the reactor of either monochlorodecane or chlorine. Since the reactor is designed to produce monochlorodecane, the former option is not practical. However, it is practical to use an excess of decane. 

In practical applications, gas-surface etching reactions are carried out in plasma reactors over the approximate pressure range 10 -1 Torr, and deposition reactions are carried out by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) in ultrahigh vacuum (UHV below 10 Torr) or by chemical vapour deposition (CVD) in the approximate range 10 -10 Torr. These applied processes can be quite complex, and key individual reaction rate constants are needed as input for modelling and simulation studies—and ultimately for optimization—of the overall processes. 

Thorium, uranium, and plutonium are well known for their role as the basic fuels (or sources of fuel) for the release of nuclear energy (5). The importance of the remainder of the actinide group Hes at present, for the most part, in the realm of pure research, but a number of practical appHcations are also known (6). The actinides present a storage-life problem in nuclear waste disposal and consideration is being given to separation methods for their recovery prior to disposal (see Waste treati nt, hazardous waste Nuclear reactors, waste managet nt). 

Aqueous formaldehyde is corrosive to carbon steel, but formaldehyde in the vapor phase is not. AH parts of the manufacturing equipment exposed to hot formaldehyde solutions must be a corrosion-resistant alloy such as type-316 stainless steel. Theoretically, the reactor and upstream equipment can be carbon steel, but in practice alloys are required in this part of the plant to protect the sensitive silver catalyst from metal contamination. 

With a batch process, such as hot isostatic compaction (HIP), heat exchange as used in a continuous reactor is not possible, and it is common practice to provide a furnace within the pressure vessel which is thermally insulated to ensure that the temperature of the vessel does not rise above 300°C. Most HIP operations involve gas pressures in the range 70—200 MPa (10—29,000 psi) and temperatures of 1250—2000°C, occasionally 2250°C (74). The pressure vessel may have a bore diameter from 27 to 1524 mm (75) and is nearly always provided with threaded closures sealed with O-rings made of elastomer provided the temperature is low enough. 

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