(172c) Flow Distribution in a High Pressure Trickle Bed Reactor

Trickle Bed Reactors (TBRs) are the multiphase reactors in which gas and liquid phases flow co-currently down a fixed bed of catalyst. These reactors are used in the petroleum and petrochemical processes, such as hydrodesulphurization and hydrogenation, but also find application in the oxidation of organics in the wastewater effluents, volatile organic compound abatement in the air pollution control, and enzymatic reactions (Al-Dahhan et al., 1997; Sie and Krishna, 1998). Most commonly, these reactors operate under elevated pressure that can go up to 300 bars.

The performance of TBRs is crucially dependent on the liquid phase distribution across the packing. Poor distribution (liquid mal-distribution) will decrease the conversion and can lead to hot spots.

In this study, we experimentally examined the hydrodynamics of a high pressure TBR. Hydrodynamics and flow distribution in an air-water, 6? column system is quantified in terms of overall (liquid holdup and pressure drop) and distributed (effluent fluxes of both gas and liquid phase) parameters.

References:

Al-Dahhan, M. H., F. Larachi, M. P. Dudukovic and A. Laurent (1997). "High-Pressure Trickle-Bed Reactors: A Review." Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research 36(8): 3292-3314.

Sie, S. T. and R. Krishna (1998). "Process development and scale up: III. Scale-up and scale-down of trickle bed processes." Reviews in Chemical Engineering 14(3): 203-252.