Abstract
The paper outlines the concept of process intensification and integration, with a particular focus on sorption-enhanced, solid-catalyzed chemical processes. An alternative and attractive solution to a system of parallel fixed-bed apparatuses is evaluated, which utilizes the solids’ circulation in a dual fluidized-bed reactor–regenerator system. This allows for continuous mode operation and greatly simplifies the control procedures. To illustrate some aspects related to the steady-state operation of such a dual system, a simplified mathematical model of two interconnected fluidized beds operating in the bubbling regime was developed. A generic reversible chemical reaction of the overall second-order, catalyzed by bifunctional pellets, integrating catalytic active sites and adsorption sites, was considered as a test case. The model was used to study the effects of the bed hydrodynamics, as well as of the chemical reaction and physical adsorption equilibrium constants. It was shown how the superposition of various chemical, physical and hydrodynamical phenomena affects the performance of the system.
Highlights
Considering that, in contrast to a system consisting of two or more interconnected fixed-bed reactors, the dual fluidized-bed reactor–regenerator system is meant to operate in continuous mode, the analysis presented here is limited to the steady-state behavior of the system
The analysis shows that a dual fluidized-bed reactor–regenerator system is an attractive solution that allows the sorption-enhanced reaction processes (SERPs) to be run in continuous mode
Such an arrangement can eliminate a problem inherently associated with sorption-enhanced processes run in fixed-bed reactors, typically operating in transient and/or cyclic regime
Summary
Chemical and petrochemical industries contribute to circa 10% of global energy consumption, being the most energy-demanding branch of industry [3], while, at the same time, they are directly responsible for about 7% of annual greenhouse gases anthropogenic emission [4,5], as well as pollutants such as aerosols, sulfur and nitrogen oxides, heavy metals and highly volatile organic compounds (VOCs) [5]. They are highly dependent on non-renewable resources, both for energy and as a feedstock. One symptom of such a trend was the subsequent birth and development of an interdisciplinary sub-realm of chemical engineering, i.e., process intensification
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