Enhanced Reactor Performance with Pressure and Vacuum Swing Reaction

Abstract

Product separation and regeneration of sorbent was accomplished in a novel pressure swing reactor through pressurisation, adsorption, blowdown and purge steps. The switching from sorption to reaction to regeneration was tested in a two bed sorption/reaction apparatus. Models developed for the mass and momentum transfer in the catalyst bed and sorber, were solved using orthogonal collocation within the method of lines. The effects of operating conditions and cycle configurations on performance were assessed. The results from dynamic experiments with propene metathesis to produce ethene and 2-butene in a fixed-bed catalytic reactor were in agreement with model predictions. Both pressure and vacuum swing demonstrated that conversion and product quality can be enhanced by periodic cycling with greater separation obtained with vacuum swing. The separation of products help reduce the downstream processing costs of exit mixtures, enable reactant utilisation by recycling and improve product handling at subsequent stages. The efficacy of the periodic separating reactor in terms of conversion, product purity and recovery were investigated.