CL405

Process Equipment Selection

Gas-Solid Reactors

Prof. Ranjan Kumar Malik

Professor (Adjunct) of Chemical Engineering
Indian Institute of Technology Bombay
Powai, Mumbai 400076
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 Gas-Solid Reactors

Contents of This Presentation

Choice of Reactor
Reactor Configurations
[Reference: Chemical Process Design and Integration by Robin Smith]

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 Gas-Solid Reactors
Configurations For Conventional Designs

Reactor configurations for conventional designs can be

categorized as:
• Tubular
• Fixed-bed catalytic
• Fixed-bed non-catalytic
• Moving-bed catalytic
• Fluidized-bed catalytic
• Fluidized-bed non-catalytic
• Kilns

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 Choice of Reactor Configuration
Importance of Raw Materials & Raw Material Costs

• In choosing the reactor, the overriding consideration is usually

the raw materials efficiency (bearing in mind materials of
construction, safety, etc.).
• Raw materials costs are usually the most important costs in
the whole process.
• Any inefficiency in the use of raw materials is likely to create
waste streams that become an environmental problem.
• The reactor creates inefficiency in the use of raw materials in
many ways.

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Factors that create Reactor Inefficiencies

• If low conversion is obtained and unreacted feed

material is difficult to separate and recycle.
• Through the formation of unwanted by products.
Sometimes, the by-product has value as a
product in its own right; sometimes, it simply
has value as fuel. Sometimes, it is a liability
and requires disposal in expensive waste
treatment processes.
• Impurities in the feed can undergo reaction to form
additional by-products. This is best avoided by
purification of the feed before reaction.

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 Reactor Configurations For Heterogeneous
Solid-Catalysed Reactions
• Fixed-bed adiabatic reactors are the cheapest in
terms of capital cost.
• Tubular reactors are more expensive than fixed-bed
adiabatic reactors.
• Highest capital costs are associated with moving
and fluidized beds.
• The choice of reactor configuration for reactions
involving a solid supported catalyst is often
dominated by the deactivation characteristics of
the catalyst.

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REACTOR CONFIGURATION FOR HETEROGENEOUS
SOLID-CATALYZED REACTIONS
Fixed-Bed Reactors
• In the chemical industry fixed-bed reactors are the
standard type of reactors for heterogeneously catalysed
gas phase reactions (two phase reactors).
• Fixed-bed reactors can be operated under adiabatic or
non-adiabatic conditions, and that depends on
temperature change.
• Because of the necessity of removing or adding heat, it
may not be possible to use a single large-diameter tube
packed with catalyst. In this event the reactor may be
built up of a number of tubes encased in a single body
to prevent excessive temperatures.

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 Catalyst Degradation in Reactors
(Need for Moving-Bed or Fluidised Bed Reactors)

Moving-Bed and Fluidized Bed Reactors

• Catalyst degradation can be a dominant issue in the choice
of reactor configuration, depending on the rate of
deactivation.
• Slow deactivation can be dealt with by periodic shutdown
and regeneration or by replacement of the catalyst. If this is
not acceptable, then standby reactors can be used to
maintain plant operation.
• If deactivation is rapid, then moving-bed and fluidized-bed
reactors, in which catalyst is removed continuously for
regeneration, might be the only option.

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REACTOR CONFIGURATION FOR HETEROGENEOUS
SOLID-CATALYZED REACTIONS
Important Fixed- Bed Tubular Reactor Processes

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REACTOR CONFIGURATION FOR HETEROGENEOUS
SOLID-CATALYZED REACTIONS
Fixed Bed Reactor Types

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 REACTOR CONFIGURATION FOR HETEROGENEOUS
SOLID-CATALYZED REACTIONS
Trickle-Bed Reactors
• A trickle-bed reactor is a three-phase (gas-
liquid-solid) reactor in which the solid
(catalyst) is a fixed bed of particles
catalysing a gas-liquid reaction.
• Liquid reactants or reactants dissolved in a
solvent flow downward through the
catalyst bed and the gaseous reactants are
conducted in the co-current direction.
• Trickle-bed reactors are widely used for
hydrogenation processes in the petroleum
industry, including hydro-desulfurization
(HDS) of heavy oils and gasoline, hydro-de-
nitrogenation (HDN), hydrocracking, and
hydro-finishing of lubricating oil.

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 Temperature Control Methods in Reactors

Temperature control of the reactor can be achieved

through
• cold shot and hot shot
• indirect heat transfer
• heat carriers
• catalyst profiles
In addition, it is common to have to quench the
reactor effluent to stop the reaction quickly or to
avoid problems with conventional heat transfer
equipment.

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Heat transfer
consideration
based
arrangements
for fixed-bed
catalytic
reactors

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Two alternative
reactor designs
for Methanol
production
with thermal
profiles.

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Catalyst Deactivation Consideration Based
Arrangements

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Ammonia
Synthesis
Reactors

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 Halder Topsoe
S-200 Radial
Converter for
Ammonia Synthesis

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 Reactor Components for
Mathematical Model
(Modelling done at IIT
Bombay)

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 H/T S-200 Ammonia Reactor Model
(CAD Centre, IIT Bombay)
The H/T S-200 ammonia reactor model aims at rating the
performance of generic catalytic ammonia reactors. This
model predicts the performance of the reactor by computing
essential performance parameters for the reactor such as:
• The production rate in tonnes/day with detailed product
information.
• The thermodynamic maximum, i.e., equilibrium conversion
and the actual conversion based on a kinetic model.
• The required quench and cold shot flow rates required for
user specified conditions on the temperatures of the
catalytic beds.
• Temperature profiles within the catalyst beds.
The model also involves rigorous rating of the heat exchangers
within the reactor.

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 Information Flow in S-200 Model
TOTAL
FEED
UPPER
D BED
INTERBED
SHELL B EXCHANGER
COOLANT

QUENCH
SHELL
COLD SHOT

MAIN FEED
C
BOTTOM
EXCHANGER

LOWER
C
BED

E
PRODUCT

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 Fluidized Bed Reactors
• Reactions involving gaseous reactants are usually
performed in tubular reactors, generally operating in
turbulent regime.
• If a solid catalyst is involved, it is usually arranged as a
bed of particles, generally in a spherical or cylindrical
shape.
• If the mechanical features of the catalyst are
appropriate, and if efficient heat exchange is
necessary to control the reaction temperature
accurately, mobile bed reactors can be also used.

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 Fluidized Bed Reactors
• The most important example of mobile bed reactors is
the fluidized bed reactor, in which the velocity of the
gaseous phase in contact with the small dimension
catalytic particles is able to keep these particles in
motion, thus realizing a high degree of stirring and
mixing.
• Other types of bed reactors, depending on the fluid
dynamic features of the bed, are:
• Boiling fluidized beds (where the motion of the two
phases system resembles that of a boiling liquid);
• Dragged fluidized beds (where the gases drag all the
particles in the bed with their motion); and finally

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 Fluidized Bed Reactors
• Spouted fluidized beds (where the particles in the
bed are dragged at high speed to a first particular
area in the reactor by the gases and allowed to
settle in a nearby stagnant portion).

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 Fluidized Bed Reactors
Different Types of Fluidized Beds

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Industrial Applications of Fluidized Beds
(Some Examples)

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 Additional
Recommended
Reading:
Chapter 6
Reactors

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