Modeling-based optimization of a fixed-bed industrial reactor for oxidative dehydrogenation of propane

An industrial scale propylene production via oxidative dehydrogenation of propane (ODHP) in multi-tubular re-actors was modeled. Multi-tubular fixed-bed reactor used for ODHP process, employing 10000 of smal diameter tubes immersed in a shel through a proper coolant flows. Herein, a theory-based pseudo-homogeneous model to describe the operation of a fixed bed reactor for the ODHP to correspondence olefin over V2O5/γ-Al2O3 catalyst was presented. Steady state one dimensional model has been developed to identify the operation parameters and to describe the propane and oxygen conversions, gas process and coolant temperatures, as well as other pa-rameters affecting the reactor performance such as pressure. Furthermore, the applied model showed that a double-bed multitubular reactor with intermediate air injection scheme was superior to a single-bed design due to the increasing of propylene selectivity while operating under lower oxygen partial pressures resulting in propane conversion of about 37.3%. The optimized length of the reactor needed to reach 100%conversion of the oxygen was theoretically determined. For the single-bed reactor the optimized length of 11.96 m including 0.5 m of inert section at the entrance region and for the double-bed reactor design the optimized lengths of 5.72 m for the first and 7.32 m for the second reactor were calculated. Ultimately, the use of a distributed oxygen feed with limited number of injection points indicated a significant improvement on the reactor performance in terms of propane conversion and propylene selectivity. Besides, this concept could overcome the reactor run-away temperature problem and enabled operations at the wider range of conditions to obtain enhanced propyl-ene production in an industrial scale reactor.