Mass Transfer Limited Wet Oxidation in Trickle-Bed Reactor

Abstract

Catalytic activity of CuO-supported catalyst in phenol oxidation, and the influence of reaction conditions, viz. temperature (125-170 °C), oxygen partial pressure (1-7 MPa) and liquid feed (30-760 ml h-1), in the continuous operation using 17.9 mm i.d. trickle-bed reactor is presented. The hydrodynamic impact on the three-phase trickle-bed reactor performance in an environmental application of catalytic wet oxidation was also investigated. The results of trickle-bed operation were strongly influenced by wetting efficiency. An insufficient catalyst wetting can be to compensated by filling the catalyst bed voids by fine glass spheres. In the case of the gas transfer limited reaction, a better wetting of the catalyst can lead to worse reactor performance due to lower reaction rates.