Trickle bed

Gas-liquid mixtures are sometimes reacted in packed beds. The gas and the liquid usually flow cocurrently. Such trickle-bed reactors have the advantage that residence times of the liquid are shorter than in countercurrent operation. This can be useful in avoiding unwanted side reactions. 

Trickle bed reaction of diol (12) using amine solvents (41) has been found effective for producing PDCHA, and heavy hydrocarbon codistiUation may be used to enhance diamine purification from contaminant monoamines (42). Continuous flow amination of the cycloaUphatic diol in a Hquid ammonia mixed feed gives >90% yields of cycloaUphatic diamine over reduced Co /Ni/Cu catalyst on phosphoric acid-treated alumina at 220°C with to yield a system pressure of 30 MPa (4350 psi) (43). 

The use of fixed bed catalysts is described in several patents (33—37). Methods of operation include upflow, trickle bed, and even vapor phase. Typically, a large volume of solvent is used to moderate the temperature rise associated with the high heat of reaction for nitro group reduction. 

Conversions of ca 75% are obtained for propylene hydration over cation-exchange resins in a trickle-bed reactor (102). Excess Hquid water and gaseous propylene are fed concurrentiy into a downflow, fixed-bed reactor at 400 K and 3.0—10.0 MPa (30—100 atm). Selectivity to isopropanol is ca 92%, and the product alcohol is recovered by azeotropic distillation with benzene. 

R. A. Holub, Hydrodynamics of Trickle Bed Reactors, D.Sc. Thesis, Washington University, St. Louis, Mo., May 1990. 

The overhead of the depropanizer is sent to the propylene fractionator. The methylacetylene (MA) and propadiene (PD) are usually hydrogenated before entering the tower. An MAPD converter is similar to an acetylene converter, but operates at a lower temperature and in the Hquid phase. Due to recent advances in catalysis, the hydrogenation is performed at low temperatures (50—90°C) in trickle bed reactors (69). Ordy rarely are methylacetylene and propadiene recovered. 

R Liquid film flowing over solid particles with air present, trickle bed reactors, fixed bed... 

Toluene hydrodealkylation to benzene and methane Phthalic anhydride by air oxidation of naphthalene Trickle bed reactor for hydrodesulfurizatiou... 

Two complementai y reviews of this subject are by Shah et al. AIChE Journal, 28, 353-379 [1982]) and Deckwer (in de Lasa, ed.. Chemical Reactor Design andTechnology, Martinus Nijhoff, 1985, pp. 411-461). Useful comments are made by Doraiswamy and Sharma (Heterogeneous Reactions, Wiley, 1984). Charpentier (in Gianetto and Silveston, eds.. Multiphase Chemical Reactors, Hemisphere, 1986, pp. 104—151) emphasizes parameters of trickle bed and stirred tank reactors. Recommendations based on the literature are made for several design parameters namely, bubble diameter and velocity of rise, gas holdup, interfacial area, mass-transfer coefficients k a and /cl but not /cg, axial liquid-phase dispersion coefficient, and heat-transfer coefficient to the wall. The effect of vessel diameter on these parameters is insignificant when D > 0.15 m (0.49 ft), except for the dispersion coefficient. Application of these correlations is to (1) chlorination of toluene in the presence of FeCl,3 catalyst, (2) absorption of SO9 in aqueous potassium carbonate with arsenite catalyst, and (3) reaction of butene with sulfuric acid to butanol. 

Some contrasting characteristics of the main lands of three-phase reactors are summarized in Table 23-15. In trickle bed reactors both phases usually flow down, the liquid as a film over the packing. In flooded reactors, the gas and hquid flow upward through a fixed oed. Slurry reactors keep the solids in suspension mechanically the overflow may be a clear liquid or a slurry, and the gas disengages from the... 

Property Trickle bed Flooded Stirred tank Entrained solids Fluidized bed... 

Interfacial area 20-50% of geometrical Like trickle bed reactor 100-1,500 mVm 100-400 mVm Less than for entrained solids... 

Trickle Bed Hydrodesulfurization The first large-scale apph-cation of trickle bed reactors was to the hydrodesulfurization of petroleum oils in 1955. The temperature is elevated to enhance the specific-rate and the pressure is elevated to improve the solubihty of the... 

Downward flow of both fluids imposes no restriction on the gas rate, except that the pressure drop will be high. On the whole, the trickle bed is preferred to the flooded bed. 

Slurry Reactors with Mechanical Agitation The catalyst may be retained in the vessel or it may flow out with the fluid and be separated from the fluid downstream. In comparison with trickle beds, high heat transfer is feasible, and the residence time can be made veiy great. Pressure drop is due to sparger friction and hydrostatic head. Filtering cost is a major item. 

Numerous studies have been made of the hydrodynamics and other aspects of the behavior of gas/liquid/sohd systems, in particular of trickle beds, and including absorption and extrac tiou in packed beds. Some of the hterature is reviewed in the references at the end of this subsection. 

Pressure Drop Some models regard trickle bed flow as analogous to gas/liquia flow in pipe lines. Various flow regimes may exist like those typified in Fig. 23-25/ but in a vertical direction. The two-phase APcl is related to the pressure drops of the individual phases on the assumptions that they are flowing alone. The relation proposed by Larkin et al. (AJChE Journal, 7, 231 [1961]) is APaj 5.0784... 

Several other correlations are cited in the literature, some of which agree with the one quoted here. Pressure drop usually is not a major factor in the design of a trickle bed. 

Axial Dispersion and the Peclet Number Peclet numbers are measures or deviation from phig flow. They may be calculated from residence time distributions found by tracer tests. Their values in trickle beds are fA to Ve, those of flow of liquid alone at the same Reynolds numbers. A correlation by Michell and Furzer (Chem. Eng. /., 4, 53 [1972]) is... 

The effect of physical processes on reactor performance is more complex than for two-phase systems because both gas-liquid and liquid-solid interphase transport effects may be coupled with the intrinsic rate. The most common types of three-phase reactors are the slurry and trickle-bed reactors. These have found wide applications in the petroleum industry. A slurry reactor is a multi-phase flow reactor in which the reactant gas is bubbled through a solution containing solid catalyst particles. The reactor may operate continuously as a steady flow system with respect to both gas and liquid phases. Alternatively, a fixed charge of liquid is initially added to the stirred vessel, and the gas is continuously added such that the reactor is batch with respect to the liquid phase. This method is used in some hydrogenation reactions such as hydrogenation of oils in a slurry of nickel catalyst particles. Figure 4-15 shows a slurry-type reactor used for polymerization of ethylene in a sluiTy of solid catalyst particles in a solvent of cyclohexane. 

Fig ure 4-16. Trickle-bed (tubular reactor) for hydrodesulfurization. (Source J. M. Smith, Chemical Engineering Kinetics, 3rd ed., McGraw-Hill, Inc., 1981.)... 

Gas-liquid contactors may be operated either by way of gas bubble dispersion into liquid or droplet dispersion in gas phase, while thin film reactors, i.e. packed columns and trickle beds are not suitable for solid formation due... 

Heterogeneous catalysts can be divided into two types those for use in fixed-bed processing wherein the catalyst is stationary and the reactants pass upward (flooded-bed) or downward (trickle-bed) over it, and those for use it slurry or fluidized-bed processing. Fixed-bed catalysts are relatively large particles, I/32 to 1 /4 inch, in the form of cylinders, spheres, or granules. Slurry or fluidized-bed catalysts are fine powders, which can be suspended readily in a liquid or gas, respectively. Fixed-bed processing is especially suited to large-scale production, and many important bulk chemicals are made in this mode. 

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