TWO-PHASE DISTRIBUTOR SYSTEM FOR DOWNFLOW REACTORS

• Main Authors: MULDOWNEY, GREGORY PATRICK, WOLFENBARGER, JULIAN ALEX, WEISS, RONALD ALVIN
• Format: Patent
• Language: English; French
• Published: 02.08.2005
• Edition: 6
• Subjects: ADDING MATERIALS TO FUELS OR FIRES TO REDUCE SMOKE ORUNDESIRABLE DEPOSITS OR TO FACILITATE SOOT REMOVAL; CHEMICAL OR PHYSICAL PROCESSES, e.g. CATALYSIS OR COLLOIDCHEMISTRY; CHEMISTRY; CRACKING HYDROCARBON OILS; FIRELIGHTERS; FUELS; FUELS NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; LIQUEFIED PETROLEUM GAS; LUBRICANTS; METALLURGY; MINERAL WAXES; NATURAL GAS; PEAT; PERFORMING OPERATIONS; PETROLEUM, GAS OR COKE INDUSTRIES; PHYSICAL OR CHEMICAL PROCESSES OR APPARATUS IN GENERAL; PRODUCTION OF LIQUID HYDROCARBON MIXTURES, e.g. BY DESTRUCTIVEHYDROGENATION, OLIGOMERISATION, POLYMERISATION; RECOVERY OF HYDROCARBON OILS FROM OIL-SHALE, OIL-SAND, ORGASES; REFINING MIXTURES MAINLY CONSISTING OF HYDROCARBONS; REFORMING OF NAPHTHA; SEPARATION; SYNTHETIC NATURAL GAS OBTAINED BY PROCESSES NOT COVERED BYSUBCLASSES C10G, C10K; TECHNICAL GASES CONTAINING CARBON MONOXIDE; THEIR RELEVANT APPARATUS; TRANSPORTING

A distributor system (18, 36) for uniformly directing vapor and liquid across the surface of a fixed bed (42) of solids in a downflow reactor (14). A first array of open-ended downpipes (33) has a plurality of vertically spaced elevations of holes (39, 40) above the level of a distributor tray (18). A second array of the downpipes (34) has at least one elevation of holes (41) but no elevation of holes as the same height as the lowermost elevations of holes (40) in the first array (33). The absence of holes causes the liquid flow rate through the distributor tray (18) at a given height to be reduced when that liquid height falls below the elevation of holes (39) second from the bottom in the first array (33).