Three-phase Catalytic Reactors for Fine-chemicals Production

3 Characteristics of Three-phase Catalytic Reactors for Fine-chemicals Production 

In fine-chemicals production with heterogeneous catalysis two main types of cylindrical reactor are in common use-stirred tank reactors with a small so-called aspect ratio (length-to-diameter ratio), and column reactors (e. g., jet-loop reactor, bubble-column reactor, trickle-bed reactor) with a relatively large aspect ratio. 

As discussed above, in the production of fine chemicals the mechanically stirred batch reactor is most popular. This is not surprising. In the laboratory reactions are usually conducted in mechanically stirred tank reactors, a natural (but not always correct) choice is to use a larger mechanically stirred tank reactor on the industrial scale. This illustrates the traditional method of scale-up. Furthermore, a tendency to duplicate known equipment usually wins when considering the choice of the reactor type for a particular process. 

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