New analytical approach for determination of hot spot location in a tubular reactor

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This article addresses the challenge of locating the maximum temperature in tubular chemical reactors; a crucial piece of information for the safety of these reactors. During exothermic reactions, the position of this temperature varies according to the operating conditions, making its measurement difficult. The study aims to establish a method that explicitly correlates the position of the maximum temperature with the reactor’s operational conditions. The reactor, in the presence of an exothermic reaction, is divided into three thermal zones: an adiabatic zone, a heat exchange zone with a constant cooling system, and a zone acting as a heat exchanger without chemical reaction. Through an analytical integration of the reactor model, considering the heat and material balances in these zones, an explicit relationship between the position of the maximum temperature, the operating conditions, and the reactor geometry such as the diameter, length, and wall of the reactor was developed, independent of the reaction kinetics. Several operational conditions were tested through simulation and experimentation to validate this relationship.