Scale-Up of Reactors

Scale-Up Principles. Key factors affecting scale-up of reactor performance are nature of reaction zones, specific reaction rates, and mass- and heat-transport rates to and from reaction sites. Where considerable uncertainties exist or large quantities of products are needed for market evaluations, intermediate-sized demonstration units between pilot and industrial plants are usehil. Matching overall fluid flow characteristics within the reactor might determine the operative criteria. Ideally, the smaller reactor acts as a volume segment of the larger one. Elow distributions are not markedly influenced by... 

Chemical reactions obey the rules of chemical kinetics (see Chapter 2) and chemical thermodynamics, if they occur slowly and do not exhibit a significant heat of reaction in the homogeneous system (microkinetics). Thermodynamics, as reviewed in Chapter 3, has an essential role in the scale-up of reactors. It shows the form that rate equations must take in the limiting case where a reaction has attained equilibrium. Consistency is required thermodynamically before a rate equation achieves success over tlie entire range of conversion. Generally, chemical reactions do not depend on the theory of similarity rules. However, most industrial reactions occur under heterogeneous systems (e.g., liquid/solid, gas/solid, liquid/gas, and liquid/liquid), thereby generating enormous heat of reaction. Therefore, mass and heat transfer processes (macrokinetics) that are scale-dependent often accompany the chemical reaction. The path of such chemical reactions will be... 

The predictive power of tendency models is obviously limited. However, the models can be useful in evaluation of the effect of changing heat-transfer conditions upon scale-up of reactors. Tendency models can be extremely useful for improvement and optimization of existing industrial reactors/reactions, especially for the improvement of the time-temperature policy and the policy of addition of component(s) to the reaction mixture. 

The Reactive System Screening Tool (RSST) was described in Section 33.2.7. This apparatus is a relatively recent development. Therefore, only limited literature data are available regarding the application of results from this equipment for direct scale-up of reactor systems. The Vent Size Package (VSP) is discussed further in Section 3.3.2.6. 

Gas-liquid bubble columns and gas-liquid-solid slurry bubble columns are widely used in the chemical and petrochemical industries for processes such as methanol synthesis, coal liquefaction, Fischer-Tropsch synthesis and separation methods such as solvent extraction and particle/gas flotation. The hydrodynamic behavior of gas-liquid bubble columns and gas-liquid-solid slurry bubble columns are of great importance for the design and scale-up of reactors. Although the hydrodynamics of the bubble and slurry bubble columns has been a subject of intensive research through experiments and computations, the flow structure quantification of complex multi-phase flows are still not well understood, especially in the three-dimensional region. In bubble and slurry bubble columns, the presence of gas bubbles plays an important role to induce appreciable liquid/solids mixing as well as mass transfer. The flows within these systems are divided into two... 

The rate of heat generation from an exothermic reaction is directly related to the mass of reactants involved. This and the ability to remove the heat, is an essential consideration in the scale-up of reactors. In a conventional vertical cylindrical reaction vessel of diameter D,... 

Example 43 Scale-up of reactors for catalytic processes in the petrochemical industry... 

Comparison of Eqs. (96) and (97) shows that the temperature difference across the film surrounding the catalyst pellet must be very low for a fully wetted particle, but could be important for a non-wetted particle. The design engineer must ensure that scale-up of reactor diameter for highly exothermic reactions does not diminish heat transfer from the reactor, or increase evaporation of liquid and generation of hot spots. To test for these effects, a pilot plant should be operated so that evaporation can occur leading to the development of dry zones. When this condition is found detailed axial temperature measurements should be taken. 

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