Local thermal equilibrium: An application to packed bed catalytic reactor design

Abstract

The process of heat transfer in a packed bed catalytic reactor is analysed in terms of the method of volume averaging. Equations are derived for both the solid and fluid phase and constraints are developed which must be satisfied if the homogeneous or one-equation model is valid. The results of this analysis provide guidelines for the use of either homogeneous or heterogeneous models and clearly indicate the parameters that must be considered in making the choice between these two models.