APPLICATION OF A THREE PHASE HETEROGENEOUS MODEL TO ANALYSE THE PERFORMANCE OF A PILOT PLANT TRICKLE BED REACTOR

A three phase heterogeneous model was used to analyse the performance of a pilot plant trickle bed reactor employed for hydrodesulphurisation of atmospheric gas oil fraction. 6] have presented a three phase heterogeneous model for hydrodesulphurisation of vacuum gas oil in a trickle bed reactor and showed that it can be used to include the inhibiting effect of hydrogen sulphide on sulphur conversion. This model was based on two film theory and incorporated mass transfer phenomena at the gas-liquid and liquid-solid interface. The chemical reaction rates were described using Langmuir-Hinshelwood mechanism. Though heterogeneous models are assumed to be more rigorous than the pseudo homogeneous models, the validation data using different reactors and reaction systems is scarce. The present study aims to validate the model with particular attention to show the influence of hydrodynamic parameters and intrinsic rates of reaction on reactor performance. The model predictions were compared with experimental observation under wide range of operating conditions. The data generated on hydrodesulphurisation of an atmospheric gas oil fraction over commercially available CoO-MoO₃/A1₂O₃ catalyst was used to test the model. The simulation showed good agreement with the experiments carried out in a wide range of operating conditions.