Heterogeneous Catalytic Reactor Design with Non‐Uniform Catalyst Considering Shell‐Progressive Poisoning Behavior

A novel methodology has been developed to design an optimum heterogeneous catalytic reactor, by considering non‐uniform catalyst pellet under shell‐progressive catalyst deactivation. Various types of non‐uniform catalyst pellets are modelled in combination with reactor design. For example, typical non‐uniform catalyst pellets such as egg‐yolk, egg‐shell and middle‐peak distribution are developed as well as step‐type distribution. A progressive poisoning behavior is included to the model to produce correct effectiveness factor from non‐uniform catalyst pellet. As opposed to numerical experiment with limited type of kinetic application to the model in the past, this paper shows a new methodology to include any types of kinetic reactions for the modeling of the reactor with non‐uniform catalyst pellet and shell‐progressive poisoning. For an optimum reactor design, reactor and catalyst variables are considered at the same time. For example, active layer thickness and location inside pellet are optimised together with reactor temperature for the maximisation of the reactor performance. Furthermore, the temperature control strategy over the reactor operation period is added to the optimization, which extends the model to three dimensions. A computational burden has been a major concern for the optimization, and innovative methodology is adopted. Application of profile based synthesis with the combination of SA (Simulated Annealing) and SQP (Successive Quadratic Programming) allows more efficient computation not only at steady state but also in dynamic status over the catalyst lifetime. A Benzene hydrogenation reaction in an industry scale fixed‐bed reactor is used as a case study for illustration.     

Heterogeneous catalytic reactor design with optimum temperature profile II: application of non-uniform catalyst

A new methodology has been developed to design non-isothermal, non-adiabatic heterogeneous catalytic fixed bed and tubular reactors with optimal temperature profiles inside a reactor. Catalyst characteristics such as pellet diameter, shape and activity distributions inside a pellet are considered simultaneously for reactor design. Various types of non-uniform activity distributions inside a pellet are modelled and optimised for the maximisation of an objective such as yield or selectivity. Dirac-δ, layered and general non-uniform distribution profiles such as egg-shell, egg-yolk and middle peak distributions are applied for the reactor design. The research demonstrates that different catalyst distribution profiles can approach the optimum performance. Whilst it is known that the Dirac-δ profile (and its step-function equivalent) always gives the best performance for clean catalyst, other profiles can approach this performance and might offer advantages in catalyst manufacture and under degraded conditions. A profile-based synthesis approach is applied to generate various shapes of activity profiles for multiple sections along the reactor during the optimisation of non-uniform catalyst pellets. A case study with the ethylene oxidation process illustrates that the catalyst characteristics, such as activity distribution profiles inside a pellet, sizes and shapes can be manipulated to control the temperature through the reactor very effectively, leading to significant improvements in selectivity or yield. The non-uniform catalyst pellet is further applied to various reactor configurations such as inert mixing and side stream distributions. This work is the first to consider all of these effects simultaneously.     

A novel approach to the design and operation scheduling of heterogeneous catalytic reactors

A number of studies have been conducted to reduce the overall level of catalyst deactivation in heterogeneous catalytic reactors, and improve the performance of reactors, such as yield, conversion or selectivity. The methodology generally includes optimization of the following: (1) operating conditions of the reaction system, such as feed temperature, normal operating temperature, pressure, and composition of feed streams; (2) reactor design parameters, such as dimension of the reactor, side stream distribution along the axis of the reactor beds, the mixing ratio of inert catalyst at each bed; and (3) catalyst design parameters, such as the pore size distribution across the pellet, active material distribution, size and shape of the catalyst, etc. Few studies have examined optimization of the overall catalyst reactor performance throughout the catalyst lifetime, considering catalyst deactivation. Furthermore, little attention has been given to the impact of various configurations of reactor networks and scheduling of the reactor operation (i.e., online and offline-regeneration) on the overall reactor performance throughout the catalyst lifetime. Therefore, we developed a range of feasible sequences of reactors and scheduling of reactors for operation and regeneration, and compared the overall reactor performance of multiple cases. Furthermore, a superstructure of reactor networks was developed and optimized to determine the optimum reactor network that shows the maximum overall reactor performance. The operating schedule of each reactor in the network was considered further. Lastly, the methodology was illustrated using a case study of the MTO (methanol to olefin) process.     

Nuclear magnetic resonance imaging of an operating gas–liquid–solid catalytic fixed bed reactor

This work reports our pioneering application of the nuclear magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technique to the dynamic in situ studies of gas–liquid–solid reactions carried out in a catalytic trickle bed reactor at elevated temperature. The major advance of these studies is that MRI experiments are performed under reactive conditions. We have applied MRI to map the distribution of liquid phase inside a catalyst pellet as well as in a catalyst bed in an operating trickle-bed reactor. In particular, our studies have revealed the existence of the oscillating regimes of the heterogeneous catalytic hydrogenation reaction caused by the oscillations of the catalyst temperature and directly demonstrated the existence of the coupling of mass and heat transport and phase transitions with chemical reaction. The existence of the partially wetted pellets in a catalyst bed which are potentially responsible for the appearance of hot spots in the reactor has been also visualized. The combination of NMR spectroscopy with MRI has been used to visualize the spatial distribution of the reactant-to-product conversion within an operating reactor.     

A sequential approach to modeling catalytic reactions in packed-bed reactors

A sequential modeling approach is proposed to simulate catalytic reactions in packed-bed reactors. The hydrogenation of alpha-methylstyrene and wet oxidation of phenol are selected as studied cases. The modeling scheme combines a reactor scale axial dispersion model with a pellet scale model. Without involving any fitting parameters, such an approach accounts for the non-linear reaction kinetics expression and different types of pellet-liquid wetting contact. To validate the developed modeling scheme and the parallel approach reported in the literature, the experimental observations for hydrogenation of alpha-methylstyrene to cumene have been employed. The predicted results by both approaches agree reasonably with the experimental data for both gas- and liquid-limited reaction. The proposed sequential approach was also used to simulate the dynamic performance of the reactor and pellets for the catalytic wet oxidation of aqueous phenol over a newly developed but rapidly deactivated catalyst (MnO₂/CeO₂). The simulation results for the catalytic wet oxidation process by both approaches were compared. The simulation describes the time evolution of the catalyst stability at different pellet points along the reactor axis. The performance of trickle beds and packed bubble columns over a range of operating conditions were also investigated, and packed bubble columns were found to achieve higher phenol conversion at the cost of more rapid catalyst deactivation.     

Dynamic operation of a three-phase upflow reactor for the hydrogenation of phenylacetylene

The selective catalytic hydrogenation of phenylacetylene to styrene presents an attractive and interesting process both from scientific and industrial viewpoints. The process mechanism consists of two consecutive reaction steps in which a high selectivity towards the intermediate product is desired.

There have been many papers published so far, that report an increase in the selectivity of adsorption-desorption-based gas-phase processes performed on solid catalysts, due to a periodic (pulsing) operation of the reactor system. Pulsing the gas feed is believed to create more preferential adsorption conditions for the required reactant (transient conditions).

This paper presents the results of a theoretical and experimental study concerning the influence of forced periodic oscillations of the gas-phase component on the performance of a three-phase reactor. The theoretical results are based on a heterogeneous mathematical reactor model considering both the transient mass balance over the reactor length as well as accumulation inside the catalyst pellets.

Numerical dynamic reactor simulations with a simplified model neglecting accumulation of components within the catalyst pellet showed little improvement in conversion and selectivity when compared to results of the steady-state model. These results were supported by dynamic experiments in a bench scale reactor. It is shown that due to mass transfer limitations, the original square wave shape of the oscillation in the gas-phase concentration was almost completely faded into a smooth and rather flat oscillation at the catalyst surface. Simulations with a model in which accumulation of the relevant components inside the particles was considered showed no further improvement in performance at transient conditions, but demonstrated the impact of accumulation capacity of the pellets on the shape of oscillation present at the catalyst surface.

The study is a result of direct cooperation between Politecnico di Torino, where the modelling and calculations were performed, and DSM Research. Its aim was to offer an attractive alternative to the conventional approach.     

Heterogeneous modeling of an autothermal membrane reactor coupling dehydrogenation of ethylbenzene to styrene with hydrogenation of nitrobenzene to aniline: Fickian diffusion model

Coupling of reactions in catalytic membrane reactors provides a route to process intensification. Dehydrogenation of ethylbenzene and hydrogenation of nitrobenzene form a promising pair of processes to be coupled in a membrane reactor. The heat released from the hydrogenation side is utilized to break the endothermality on the dehydrogenation side, while hydrogen produced on the dehydrogenation side permeates through the hydrogen-selective membranes, enhances the equilibrium conversion of ethylbenzene and reacts with nitrobenzene on the permeate side to produce aniline. Mathematical reactor models are excellent tools to evaluate the extent of improvement before experiments are set up. However, a careful selection of phenomena considered by the reactor model is needed in order to obtain accurate model predictions.To investigate the effect of the intraparticle resistances on the performance of the cocurrent configuration of the coupling reactor, a heterogeneous fixed bed reactor model is developed with Fickian diffusion inside the catalyst pellets. For the condition of interest, the styrene yield is found to be 82% by the homogenous model, 73% by the heterogeneous model for isothermal pellets, and 69% by the heterogeneous model with non-isothermal pellets. Hence, the homogeneous model overestimates the yield by 5–15% of their actual values.     

有效反应区概念在催化剂颗粒级设计中的应用

将有效反应区概念引入催化剂颗粒级设计中,用来分析由于反应与传递交互作用所引起的一类问题——在实际体系中,催化剂颗粒内可能存在有效反应区和死区的情形。数值模拟的结果表明,在许多情况下,尤其对扩散控制的体系,催化剂颗粒内存在有效反应区和死区的情形。在这种情况下,采用不同的活性分布形式是避免死区扩大有效反应区的一个重要方法,尤其对放热反应,用适当的活性分布形式制成的催化剂有可能既满足反应器系统对颗粒尺寸的要求,又能得到很好的催化剂效率。     

Optimal catalyst pellet activity distributions—fixed-bed reactor with catalyst deactivation

The catalyst pellet activity distribution to maximize fixed-bed reactor performance (profit per time) is determined for first-order, second-order and consecutive first-order reactions in the presence of deactivation. An isothermal heterogeneous plug-flow reactor packed with multiple zones of narrow active region catalysts is considered. The optimal active catalyst location is estimated by a gradient type method. The gradient components are computed with the help of adjoint equations. It is found that the best performance is achieved for one type of catalysts along the reactor. Significant improvements over activity distributions are obtained.     

Catalytic wet oxidation: micro–meso–macro methodology from catalyst synthesis to reactor design

Compared to alternative mature wet oxidation technologies that have tremendously proliferated in industry, heterogeneously mediated catalytic wet oxidation (CWO) has achieved, thus far, poor commercial penetration. The two factors that are likely responsible for this situation are (i) the lack of efficient and robust catalysts that pass with success the acid-test for commercial exploitation remote from the aseptic academic conditions, (ii) and the lack of a comprehensive reactor design framework and methodology for scale-up, reactor selection and operation inherent to the multiphase nature of the CWO reactors. This synthetic review summarizes the recent research and development work conducted at Laval University on the CWO from both the perspectives of catalyst development and testing, and multiphase reactor simulations and selection. Specific emphasis was put, on the one hand, on the development brought to some manganese oxide–ceria composites against deactivation, and on the other hand, on the formulation of multidimensional unsteady–steady non-isothermal mass-energy transport/reaction models, embedding catalyst deactivation or not, for trickle bed reactors, packed bubble column reactors, three-phase fluidized beds and slurry bubble columns. A micro–Meso–macro scale methodology was adopted from the materials synthesis up to reactor selection in which the catalyst performance (conversion, selectivity, and deactivation), the intrinsic chemical kinetics, the fluid phase thermodynamics, the pellet scale transport, and the reactor scale physical phenomena (heat, mass transport and hydrodynamics) were integrated. As a result, several aspects relevant to reactor behaviour such as solvent evaporation due to CWO reaction exothermic effects, catalyst partial wetting and catalyst deactivation, and back-mixing effects were covered, and recommendations were formulated.     

Development of a catalytic heating system for external combustion engines

A catalytic heater design was proposed for an external combustion engine. This design is based on the partial oxidation or autothermal conversion of hydrocarbon fuel to syngas and its further oxidation with heat generation in a radial catalytic reactor integrated with a tubular heat exchanger. The theoretical analysis of operational regimes for a catalytic heater with a thermal power of 25–50 kW was performed with regard to the distribution of gas and the mathematical modeling of processes in a catalyst bed integrated with a heat exchanger, and some estimates were given for the performance of an external combustion engine. The conditions providing a uniform distribution of gas along the length of a radial reactor with suction of a reaction mixture into the catalyst bed were determined. A design of catalytic heating system elements was developed, and some layout solutions that provide a rational mutual arrangement of system components were created.     

Experimental study of vaporization effect on steady state and dynamic behavior of catalytic pellets

The impact of the combined evaporation of the liquid phase and reaction on single catalyst pellet performance has been studied experimentally. The exothermic, catalyzed hydrogenation of -methylstyrene (AMS) to cumene has been employed as a model reaction. Steady state and dynamic experiments have been performed in a single catalytic pellet reactor using five catalytic pellets of different porous structures, thermal conductivity, apparent catalytic activity and distribution of catalyst in the pellet. Gas-phase temperature, concentration of AMS in the gas phase and the liquid flow rates have been varied. The measured center and surface temperatures of each pellet reveal the existence of two significantly different steady states in the range of liquid flow rate. The range of the liquid flow rate over which the two steady states were observed, the pellet temperature and the pellet dynamics depend strongly on the amount of AMS vapor in the gas phase and the catalyst properties. The obtained experimental data are helpful to elucidate the mechanism of hot-spot formation and runaway in multiphase fixed-bed reactors.     

活性非均匀分布催化剂颗粒的等温有效系数

本文比较了球形、圆柱形和片形的活性非均匀分布催化剂颗粒及相应的均匀分布催化剂颗粒的等温有效系数.当反应为零级、一级或二级时,活性分布趋向催化剂颗粒的外层,使有效系数增大,反之则减小.扩散效应很大时,有效系数和颗粒表面处的活性的平方根成正比.以当量有效层厚度修正西尔模数(Thiele Modulus)后,得到了适用于各种活性分布的有效系数——西尔模数曲线.据此,可以推算活性非均匀分布催化剂颗粒的有效系数.当扩散效应很大或很小时,最大偏差小于5%,在两者之间为10%.     

On the use of hollow catalyst pellets for reactions affected by deactivation

The use of hollow pellets is considered for the gas-solid catalytic reactions in which an independent deactivation reaction causes pore-mouth poisoning. It is shown that the use of hollow pellets does not necessarily increase the rate of reaction and that it does make a difference whether the hollow pellet is open-ended or not. Conditions for better performance are given in terms of the fractional void and the fraction of catalyst poisoned for different bases of comparison.     

Dynamic modeling and validation of 2-ethyl-hexenal hydrogenation process

The paper evaluates, by modeling and simulation, 2-ethyl-hexenal hydrogenation process in catalytic trickle bed three-phase reactors. The mathematical model consists of balance equations for gas and liquid phases. Reaction rate equations, transport models and mass balances were coupled to generalized heterogeneous models which were solved with respect to time and space with algorithms suitable for partial differential equations. The importance of mass transfer resistance inside the catalyst pellets as well as the dynamics of the different phases being present in the reactor is revealed. The dynamic mathematical model presented can be used to analyze and understand the interaction of various processes that take place inside the hydrogenation reactor and also to make preliminary calculation of experimental parameters. Another important use of the mathematical model is to determine the optimal operation conditions and to design the control system. The model is implemented in Matlab and tested in simulations achieving successful results.     

A Novel Radial‐Flow,Spherical‐Bed Reactor Concept for Methanol Synthesis in the Presence of Catalyst Deactivation

A radial‐flow, spherical‐bed reactor concept for methanol synthesis in the presence of catalyst deactivation, has been proposed. This reactor configuration visualizes the concentration and temperature distribution inside a radial‐flow packed bed with a novel design for improving reactor performance with lower pressure drop. The dynamic simulation of spherical multi‐stage reactors has been studied in the presence of long‐term catalyst deactivation. Model equations were solved by the orthogonal collocation method. The performance of the spherical multi‐stage reactors was compared with a conventional single‐type tubular reactor. The results show that for this case study and with similar reactor specifications and operating conditions, the two‐stage spherical reactor is better than other alternatives such as single‐stage spherical, three‐stage spherical and conventional tubular reactors. By increasing the number of stages of a spherical reactor, one increases the quality of production and decreases the quantity of production.     

Catalyst performance for noble metal catalysed alcohol oxidation: reaction-engineering modelling and experiments

A reaction-engineering model is presented, which describes catalyst performance as a function of the catalyst activity profile, the reaction kinetics, and the degree of catalyst deactivation. With this model, the catalyst activity profile can be optimised for Pt catalysed methyl -D-glucopyranoside (slowly-reactive) and glucose (highly-reactive) oxidations. This is done by comparing modelling results with experimentally obtained data for catalysts of different activity distributions. Experiments in a semi-batch stirred reactor showed that for methyl -D-glucopyranoside (MGP) oxidation at oxygen partial pressures below 40 kPa, egg shell catalytic activity distribution gives a higher rate of oxidation than a uniform distribution. It was also observed that with increase in oxygen concentration from 10 to 40 kPa, the rate of deactivation due to catalyst over-oxidation increased dramatically. For glucose oxidation, both catalyst activity distributions give the same oxidation rate for all investigated oxygen partial pressures (5–100 kPa). The developed model adequately describes the observed experimental results of both reactions. It was found that the active metal particle size has a significant influence on the catalyst deactivation for MGP oxidation; the uniform catalyst with higher dispersion shows a higher deactivation rate than the egg shell catalyst. For modelling glucose oxidation, the effect of catalyst particle-to-bubble adhesion and higher diffusivity or partition coefficient for oxygen have to be taken into account.     

Isothermal effectiveness factor—II: Analytical expression for single reaction with arbitrary kinetics,geometry and activity distribution

A previously presented method[1], to predict isothermal effectiveness factor with a single complex reaction in isothermal slab pellets is extended to encompass much more complex and general situations. In this work the geometry of the pellet can be arbitrary and a non uniform distribution of the catalyst is considered.Though the previously presented method[1] has had to be slightly modified to predict with great accuracy the effectiveness factor, (with less than 3% deviation from the exact values), an almost general and very simple algebraic expression is deduced to predict effectiveness factor values within 10% of their respective exact values. Thus for many applications in engineering design and catalytic reactor simulation, this simple general expression can be extremely useful since only one easily generated parameter is needed, as shown throughout the present contribution.     

Modeling of transient heterogeneous two-dimensional catalytic packed bed reactor

A two-dimensional transient catalytic packed bed model, incorporating all transport parameters and resistances, along with boundary conditions based on a catalytic single pellet has been developed. Thermal conduction through the solid phase is included in the model. The overall steady state reactor performances of packed bed reactor using a model proposed in this study are compared with those from different models which are often used for a packed bed reactor. The model presented is very useful in the presence of internal temperature and concentration gradients in the catalyst pellets. The dynamic behavior in feed temperature change is examined during ethane hydrogenolysis. A transient thermal runaway is observed by feed temperature decrease. The sensitivities of the computation to each physical parameter and the effects of some simplifying assumptions in the model are also analyzed. The magnitude and position of hot spot in catalytic packed bed reactor are relatively sensitive to thermal parameters and characteristic parameters of a catalyst pellet.     

Optimal Distribution of Catalyst in Pellets

A large fraction of the chemical and refinery processes are catalytic in nature. While the worldwide sales of catalysts are only about $4 billion annually, the economic impact of catalysis comes from the fact that approximately $200 worth of products are manufactured for every $1 worth of catalyst consumed [1]. The active materials used as catalysts are often expensive metals, and in order to be utilized effectively, they are deposited on high surface area supports. This approach in many cases introduces intrapellet activity gradients during the preparation process, which were traditionally thought to be detrimental to catalyst performance. However, the effects of deliberate nonuniform distribution of the catalytic material within the support on the performance of a catalyst pellet started receiving attention in the late 1960's (see Refs. 2-6). These, as well as later studies, both experimental and theoretical, demonstrated that nonuniformly distributed catalysts can offer superior conversion, selectivity, durability, and thermal sensitivity characteristics over those wherein the activity is uniform.