A novel reactor for determination of kinetics for solid catalyzed gas reactions

Abstract

AbstractA novel perfectly mixed laboratory reactor for determining kinetics of heterogeneously catalyzed gas‐phase reactions has been developed. Perfect mixing is achieved by circulating the gas in the reactor using an axial flow impeller in a well streamlined enclosure. Pellets are fixed in a rectangular opening in the blades of the impeller. They rotate with the impeller, thus realizing high particle velocities in the reactor. Interparticle mass transfer was studied experimentally by vaporization of naphthalene pellets. The mass‐transfer coefficient in the novel reactor was found to depend on the velocity of a particle in the reactor. Mass‐transfer coefficients in an internal recycle reactor at equal impeller tip speeds are 4–6 times lower than those in the novel reactor, and conditions can be chosen easily where at higher rotational speeds the mass‐ and heat‐transfer rates are 8–10 times higher than in classical recycle reactors. The recycle flow rate in a recycle reactor was found to depend strongly on the resistance to flow caused by the catalyst bed itself. The novel reactor was tested under reacting conditions using the hydrogenation of ethene.