Reactors plug flow tabular

TABLE 4-5 Reactor Design Strategies to Prevent the Phenomenon of Thermal Runaway in Plug-Flow Tabular Reactors... 

Fig. 11.9 Types of linear continuous-flow reactors (LCFRs). (a) Continuous plug flow reactor (CPFR) resembling a batch reactor (BR) with the axial distance z being equivalent to time spent in a BR. (b) A tabular flow reactor (TFR) with (tq) miscible thin disk of reactive component deformed and distributed (somewhat) by the shear field over the volume, and (b2) immiscible thin disk is deformed and stretched and broken up into droplets in a region of sufficiently high shear stresses, (c) SSE reactor with (cj) showing laminar distributive mixing of a miscible reactive component initially placed at z = 0 as a thin slab, stretched into a flat coiled strip at z L, and (c2) showing dispersive mixing of an immiscible reactive component initially placed at z — 0 as a thin slab, stretched and broken up into droplets at z — L.

In another kind of ideal flow reactor, all portions of the feed stream have the same residence time that is, there is no mixing in the axial direction but complete mixing radially. It is called a plug flow reactor (PFR), or a tabular flow reactor (TFR), because this flow pattern is characteristic of tubes and pipes. As the reaction proceeds, the concentration falls off with distance. 

The catalyst pretreatment process for both the clay-supported and the reference catalysts consists of loading into the HDS reactor under N2, purging in N2 at 20°C for 30 min at 1000 cmVmin., drying in N2 at 150°C for 60 min and at 400°C for 60 min, and finally sulfiding in a 5% H2S/H2 mixture at 400°C for two hr prior to use as catalysts. The laboratory scale liquid-phase continuous-flow HDS reactor consists of a thick-walled 0.375" ID 316 SS tube, with 1 g catalyst diluted with 5 g tabular alumina (LaRoche T-1061, 10 m2/g) sitting between plugs of quartz wool. Beneath the lower plug is a 0.125" ID, 0.375" OD deadman used to minimize volume between the reactor and the liquid receiver. The liquid test feed consisted of 0.75 wt % sulfur as dibenzothiophene (DBT), dissolved in hexadecane and is representative of a middle distillate oil. All liquid-filled lines were heated to 50°C. The reaction was carried out at 400°C LHSV = 10-40/hr. 

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