Fluid-bed reactors provide several potential advantages for complex reactions, including reactions that rapidly deactivate, contain reactive solids, quickly coke, or are highly exothermic. However, scaling up the extremely complex unit operation known as a fluidized-bed reactor is challenging and requires a strong understanding of its kinetics.
In the September AIChE Journal Perspective article, “Fluidized-Bed Reactor Scale-Up: Reaction Kinetics Required,” Paul Witt and Dan Hickman (Dow Chemical) present a methodology to select the most appropriate laboratory reactor for generating kinetic data. In almost all cases, an ideal fixed-bed reactor is the most suitable. To support their assertion, the authors review several different reactor designs and concepts for measuring kinetics. Witt and Hickman discuss the potential benefits and unique challenges of each design. Depending on the design, the more elaborate laboratory systems suffer from long contacting times, large void spaces for homogenous chemistry, significant metal surface area, axial solid composition profile, or highly idealized reaction conditions.
In gas-solid fluidized-bed reactors, an upward flowing gas suspends solid...
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