EFFECT OF EQUATION OF STATE ON PREDICTION OF TRICKLE BED REACTOR MODEL PERFORMANCE

Trickle bed reactors are widely employed in hydrotreating pocesses that operate at conditions where a significant portion of the liquid phase will flash. This partial vaporization of the feed affects the reactor performance. In order to determine the extent of liquid flashing and its effect on reactor performance, an equation of state is needed. In this study we used seven cubic equations of state to determine their effect in predicting reactor performance as well as parameter estimation

Two important variables that are calculated from the equation of state are the vapor liquid equilibrium and the molar density of the liquid phase. It was observed that although the distribution coefficients calculated by each equation of state are significantly different from each other, they do not affect the reactor model appreciably. However, molar density determination has a large effect both on modelling of reactor performance and the parameter estimation.