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The Fixed Bed Catalytic Reactor: Lecture On

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The Fixed Bed Catalytic Reactor: Lecture On

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shubham
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
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Lecture on

The Fixed Bed Catalytic Reactor

Instructor

Prof. Bishnupada Mandal


Room No. 102, Block - K
Department of Chemical Engineering
Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati

Copyright ©: All contents in this lecture, no matter the form it takes (whether digital, print, or
media) is protected under copyright law. The contents are only for the purpose of academic use.
Lecture 12 : The Fixed Bed Catalytic Reactors

Lecture Outline
• Recap on previous lecture
• The Fixed Bed Catalytic Reactors
Staged Packed Beds (Plug Flow) with Intercooling
1. Guess Ta.

2. Move along the adiabatic line until the


following condition is satisfied:

This gives point b in Fig., thus the amount


of catalyst needed in the first stage as well
as the outlet temperature from that stage.
Especially in preliminary design it may not
be convenient to use the criterion of above
equation.
A simple alternative is a trial-and-error search. Usually two or three carefully chosen
trials keeping away from low rate conditions will yield a good design, close to the
optimum.
Staged Packed Beds (Plug Flow) with Intercooling
3. Cool to point c which has the same rate
of reaction as point b; thus (-r’A)leaving a reactor
= (-r’A)entering the next reactor

4. Move along the adiabatic from point c


until the criterion of Eq. 1 is satisfied,
giving point d.

5a. If point d is at the desired final


conversion then we have guessed Ta,
correctly.

5b. If point d is not at the desired final conversion try a different incoming
temperature Ta. Usually three trials will very closely approach the optimum.
Staged Packed Beds (Plug Flow) with Intercooling
For three or more stages the procedure is a
direct extension of that presented here, and
it still remains a one-dimensional search.

Overall cost considerations will determine


the number of stages to be used, so in
practice we examine 1, then 2, etc., stages
until a minimum cost is obtained.

Let us next consider the two other cases:


irreversible exothermic reactions and
endothermic reactions.

In all these cases a trial-and-error search keeping far from the regions of low
rates is recommended.
Staged Mixed Flow Reactors
 For very high recycle the staged
recycle reactors approach mixed
flow.

 As shown in Fig., in this case the


reactors should operate on the line
of optimum temperature
progression, the best distribution of
catalyst among the stages being
found by the maximization of
rectangles (see Figs.).

 In effect we need to choose the distribution of catalyst so as to maximize area


KLMN which then minimizes the shaded area in Fig.
Staged Packed Beds with Recycle

 Here we have a flexible system


which can approach mixed
flow and as such is able to
avoid regions of low rates.

 Figure illustrates two-stage


operations with a recycle ratio
R = 1, and a feed temperature,
Tf .

 Extension to three or more


stages follows directly.
Cold Shot Cooling

 One way of eliminating the inter-


stage heat exchangers is by
properly adding cold feed directly
into the second and succeeding
stages of the reactor.

 The procedure is shown in Fig.

 With cold shot cooling the calculation of reactor volumes by the 1/-r’A versus
XA, curve becomes more complicated because different amounts of feed are
involved in each stage.

 We can also cold shot cool with inert fluid. This will affect both the 1/-r’A versus
XA and T versus XA curves.
Choice of Contacting System

 With so many contacting alternatives let us suggest when one or other is


favored.
1. For endothermic reactions the rate always decreases with conversion;
hence we should always use plug flow with no recycle (see Chapter 9). For
exothermic reactions the slope of the adiabatic line determines which
contacting scheme is best. The rest of these comments concern this case of
exothermic reactions.

2. All else being equal, cold shot cooling has the advantage of lower cost
because inter-stage heat exchangers are not needed. However, cold shot
cooling is only practical when the feed temperature is very much below the
reaction temperature, and, in addition, when the temperature does not
change much during reaction.
Choice of Contacting System

 These conditions can be summarized as follows:


 Cold shot cooling is practical when

 Two situations, one when cold shot cooling is practical, the other when it is
not, are shown in Fig.
Choice of Contacting System

3. For exothermic reactions if the slope of the adiabatic line is low


(large temperature rise during reaction) it is advantageous to avoid
the low temperature regime where the rate is very low. Thus use
high recycle approaching mixed flow.
On the other hand, if the slope is high (small temperature rise
during reaction) the rate decreases with conversion and plug flow
is to be used.
Typically, for pure gaseous reactant the slope of the adiabatic is
small; for a dilute gas or for a liquid it is large.
Choice of Contacting System
 As an example, consider a
reactant having Cp = 40 J/(mol K)
and Hr = - 120 000 J/mol and
inerts with Cp = 40 J/(mol.K):

 For a pure reactant gas stream

 For a dilute 1% reactant gas


stream

 For a 1-molar liquid solution


Choice of Contacting System

4. For exothermic reactions


in staged reactors the
above discussion can be
summarized as follows:
Useful Way to Compare Design Alternatives
 A useful way to consider and compare these design alternatives is on a
contour plot of reaction rate as a function of conversion and
temperature.
 As an example, consider methanol production from synthesis gas (H2 +
CO) according to the reaction: CO + 2 H2 ↔ CH3OH

 The enthalpy and entropy change of reaction for this process are ∆Hrxn =
-90.1 kJ mol-1 and ∆Srxn = -219.2 kJ mol-1 K-1.
 For a given inlet composition, total pressure, and temperature, this
information allows us to compute the equilibrium composition.
 Note that the reaction is exothermic and reversible, so we expect that
there may be an optimal temperature or temperature profile for the
reactor.
Useful Way to Compare Design Alternatives
 Suppose that for a particular catalyst, the forward rate of this reaction
was given by

 Where pCO and pH2 are the partial pressures of the reactants in bar. Note
that the rate is expressed per catalyst weight rather than per reactor
volume. This is a common practice for catalytic reactions.
 The net rate (even though this is not an elementary reaction) must
therefore be given by
Useful Way to Compare Design Alternatives
 The net rate (even though this is not an elementary reaction) must
therefore be given by

 where Keq is the pressure equilibrium constant, given by

 where pref is the reference pressure for the standard state enthalpy and
entropy of reaction, which is 1 atmosphere.
 Therefore, we have
Useful Way to Compare Design Alternatives
 The reactant and product compositions are related by stoichiometry.
 For constant-pressure operation, we can characterize the reaction by a
single extent of reaction, x.
 If we have a stoichiometric feed (2 moles of H2 for each mole of CO), the
number of moles of each species is given by

NCO  No 1  x  N H2  2 No 1  x  NCH3OH  No x Ntot  No  3  2 x 

 where No is the initial number of moles of CO. The partial pressures are
given by

 So, the net   p 


3

 10000  tot 1 x   10840  ptot x 
reaction rate is r  1.0 10 exp 
6
 2    2.82 10 exp 
11

 T 
  3  2 x   T  3  2x 
 
Useful Way to Compare Design Alternatives
 So, the net reaction   
3

 10000   ptot 1 x   10840  ptot x 
rate is r  1.0 10 exp 
6
 2    2.82 10 exp 
11

 T 
  3  2 x   T  3  2x 
 

 This allows us (for a given


total pressure) to
construct a contour map
of reaction rate vs.
temperature and extent of
reaction.
 This is shown here for a
total pressure of 50 bar,
where the color indicates
the logarithm (base 10) of
the reaction rate in kgmol
per kg catalyst per second.
Useful Way to Compare Design Alternatives
 The dark curve is the equilibrium
line.
 Below that curve, we have net
reaction in the forward direction,
and above that line, we have net
reaction in the reverse direction.
 The white curve shows the locus of
temperatures that give the
maximum rate for a given extent of
reaction. This curve follows the
equilibrium curve quite closely.

 Following this path of maximum reaction rate would give the minimum
total residence time (minimum catalyst) for the reactor.

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