CHX 306

Chemical Reaction Engineering II

(Tutorials)
Heterogeneous Catalytic
Reactors:
Solid-catalyzed reactions
 Introduction
 Reactant gas can be made to contact solid catalyst in many ways, and
each has its specific advantages and disadvantages

 Solid-catalyzed reactors can be divided into two broad types, the fixed-
bed reactors and the fluidized-bed reactors

 The moving-bed reactor is an intermediate case which embodies some of

the advantages and disadvantages of both fixed-bed and fluidized-bed
reactors
 Introduction
 Merits/Issues with Reactor types

 In passing through fixed beds, gases approximate plug flow. It is quite

different with bubbling fluidized beds where the flow is complex and not
well known, but certainly far from plug flow, and with considerable
bypassing
 This flow behavior in fluidized beds is unsatisfactory from the standpoint
of effective contacting and requires much more catalyst for high gas
conversion, and greatly depresses the amount of intermediate which can
be formed in series reactions
 Hence, if efficient contacting in a reactor is of primary importance, then
the fixed bed is favored
 Introduction
 Merits/Issues with Reactor types

 Effective temperature control of large fixed beds can be difficult because

such systems are characterized by a low heat conductivity. Thus in highly
exothermic reactions hot spots or moving hot fronts are likely to develop
which may ruin the catalyst

 In contrast with this, the rapid mixing of solids in fluidized beds allows
easily and reliably controlled, practically isothermal, operations. So if
operations are to be restricted within a narrow temperature range, either
because of the explosive nature of the reaction or because of product
distribution considerations, then the fluidized bed is favored
 Introduction
 Merits/Issues with Reactor types

 Fixed beds cannot use very small sizes of catalyst because of plugging and
high-pressure drop, whereas fluidized beds are well able to use small-size
particles
 Thus for very fast reactions in which pore and film diffusion may influence
the rate, the fluidized bed with its vigorous gas-solid contacting and small
particles will allow a much more effective use of the catalyst

 If the catalyst has to be treated (regenerated) frequently because it

deactivates rapidly, then the liquid-like fluidized state allows it to be
pumped easily from unit to unit. This feature of fluidized contacting offers
overwhelming advantages over fixed bed operations for such solids
 Various types of catalytic reactors
 Figure 1.1 illustrates a number of these contacting patterns
 These may be divided into two broad types, the fixed-bed reactors of
Figure 1.1 (a, b, and c) and the fluidized-bed reactors of Figure 1.1 (d, e,
and f)
 The moving-bed reactor of Figure 1.1 (g) is an intermediate case which
embodies some of the advantages and some of the disadvantages of
fixed-bed and fluidized-bed reactors
 Various types of catalytic reactors
Figure 1.1 (a) represents a typical packed bed (fixed-bed) reactor embodying
all its advantages and disadvantages.
 Various types of catalytic reactors
Figure 1.1 (b) represents shows how the problem of hot spots can be
substantially reduced (multi-tubular design), by increasing the cooling
surface
 Various types of catalytic reactors
Figure 1.1 (c) shows how intercooling can still further control the
temperature by staged-adiabatic (or multi-bed adiabatic) design. Note that
in the first stage where reaction is fastest, conversion is kept low by having
less catalyst present than in the other stages
 Various types of catalytic reactors
Figure 1.1 (d) shows a fluidized reactor for a stable catalyst which need not
be regenerated. The heat exchanger tubes are immersed in the bed to
remove or add heat and to control the temperature
 Various types of catalytic reactors
Figure 1.1 (e) shows operations with a deactivating catalyst which must be
continually removed and regenerated
 Various types of catalytic reactors
Figure 1.1 (f) shows a three-stage countercurrent unit which is designed to
overcome the shortcomings of fluidized beds with regard to poor contacting
 Various types of catalytic reactors
Figure 1.1 (g) shows a moving-bed reactor. Such units share with fixed beds
the advantages of plug flow and disadvantages of large particle size, but they
also share with fluidized beds the advantages of low catalyst-handling costs
Examples of solid-catalyzed reactions
Examples of solid-catalyzed reactions
Example 1:
A solid-catalyzed packed-bed reactor is to be designed for oxidation of SO 2, using
cylindrical alumina (Al2O3) pellets (3 mm x 3 mm, density 1130 Kg/m 3) coated with
platinum. The intra-particle transport effects are found to be negligible. The oxidation
reaction is found to be having first-order kinetics, and the rate constant determined
from laboratory data, is estimated as 2.3x10-4 sec-1. The mass transfer coefficient for
diffusion of SO2, near the catalyst pellet surface, is reported to be 1.5x10-4 m/sec. The
global rate is controlled by reaction kinetics as well as by diffusion of SO 2 near the
pellet surface. Neglect the temperature variations near the pellet surface. At steady
state of operation, the global reaction rate and the bulk gas composition (entering
and leaving the reactor) is measured. The feed is passed through the reactor at 790
mmHg containing 6.42 mole% of SO2 and 93.58 mole% of air. Estimate the
percentage concentration difference for SO2 between the bulk gas phase and the
catalyst surface for the two global rates mentioned in the table.
Example 2:

A jacket–cooled solid-catalyzed packed-bed reactor (4 cm x 120 cm) is to be

designed for oxidation of SO2 using cylindrical alumina (Al2O3) pellets (3 mm x
3 mm, density 1130 Kg/m3) coated with platinum. The void fraction in the
reactor can be taken as 0.45. The oxidation reaction is found to be having
first-order kinetics, and the rate constant determined from laboratory data, is
estimated as 2.3x10-4 sec-1. The global rate of oxidation is found to be
controlled by reaction kinetics as well as by diffusion rate of SO2 near the
pellet surface. The mass transfer coefficient for diffusion of SO2, near the
catalyst pellet surface, is reported to be 1.5x10-4 m/sec. The average bulk
concentration of SO2 in the gaseous mixture is 3.42x10-4 kmol/m3. For steady
state of operation, estimate an average rate at which the heat is to be
extracted by the cooling jacket for maintaining the temperature inside the
reactor. The heat of oxidation of SO2 can be taken as 80,000 KJ/Kmol.