Effect of liquid wetting on catalyst effectiveness in trickle‐bed reactors

Abstract

AbstractThe liquid in trickle‐bed reactors falls in rivulets down over the catalyst particles. Heretofore, studies of the effect of fractional liquid coverage of the outer surface of the particle on reaction rate have ignored the distribution of the rivulets. A model has been developed in this paper for predicting the effect of number and size of the liquid rivulets. The system of equations has been solved numerically for a first order reaction for two types of reactions: a), one where the rate is determined by the reactant concentration in the liquid, and b), a reaction where the rate is controlled by reactant concentration in the gas phase, as in some hydrogenations.The results show that intraparticle concentration profiles are strongly affected by the distribution and size of the rivulets. However, for both types of reactions the overall rate, as measured by an overall effectiveness factor, is not significantly affected. This result is important since it suggests that distribution and size of the liquid rivulets may be safely ignored in evaluating the effect of liquid coverage, or wetting efficiency, on the rate of reaction