A structured packed-bed reactor designed for exothermic hydrogenation of acetone

• Published in: Particuology Vol. 17; no. 6; pp. 125 - 130
• Main Authors: Duan, Yanjun, Xu, Min, Zhou, Xiaoming, Huai, Xiulan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 01.12.2014
• Subjects: Acetone hydrogenation; Catalysis; Catalysts; CFD simulation; Chemical heat pump; Exothermic reactions; Heat pumps; Pressure drop; Reactors; Structured packed-bed reactor; Temperature gradient; Thermal conductivity; Wall effects; 丙酮; 加氢; 反应器设计; 固定床反应器; 填充床反应器; 径向温度梯度; 放热反应; 结构化; CFD simulation; Structured packed-bed reactor; Acetone hydrogenation; Chemical heat pump
• ISSN: 1674-2001; 2210-4291
• DOI: 10.1016/j.partic.2013.07.010

Fixed-bed reactors randomly packed with catalysts have many disadvantages that may adversely affect the desired chemical reaction.The increasingly used monolithic reactor,in contrast,has many operational advantages;however,for a kinetically-controlled reaction,it does not contain sufficient catalyst to sustain the reaction.To address the problems associated with both randomly packed-bed reactor and the monolithic reactor,a structured packed-bed reactor was proposed and mathematical models were built for randomly packed-bed reactor and structured packed-bed reactor.Their respective performances were compared when applied to the exothermic reaction of the isopropanol-acetone-hydrogen chemical heat pump system.The results showed that the structured packed-bed reactor performed better in terms of pressure drop and heat transfer capacity,and had a lower radial temperature gradient,indicating that this reactor had a higher effective heat conductivity.Isopropanol on the catalyst particle surfaces was more concentrated near the tube wall because a wall effect existed in the boundary layer around the particle-wall contact points.