Abstract
The operation of packed bed tubular reactors, for exothermic catalytic reactions, presents special challenges provoked by hotspot development. Their potential safety risk can be assessed using different mathematical methodologies, among them, the so-called parametric sensitivity analysis (PSA). This study deals with the identification of safe operational conditions (e.g., feed temperature conditions) for the catalytic oxidation of o-xylene. Three different reaction networks, with different degrees of complexity, were analyzed. Thus, the critical values of the operating parameters, allowing us to define run-away and stable operation conditions, were provided for different reactive configurations. The obtained results were compared with the data reported by various authors who used similar reaction rate laws. The purpose of the present study is to illustrate the peculiarities of the PSA and its application for the design, analysis, and operation of o-xylene multitubular catalytic reactor.
Highlights
It is with great respect and profound admiration that we dedicate this work to Professor Hugo deLasa on the occasion of honoring and recognizing his outstanding career contributions to the fields of heterogeneous catalysis, photocatalysis and catalytic reaction engineering
In the context of the present study, three different o-xylene oxidation models were selected: (i) the single reaction model used by van Welsenaere and Froment [7]; (ii) the three-step oxidation process reported by de Lasa [2]; and (iii) the Chandrasekharan and Calderbank [17] kinetic model, which includes five steps of reaction
It is worthy of note that, depending on the reaction rate expressions included in the mathematical model, the final form and the number of parametric sensitivity equations will be different for each case analyzed in this work
Summary
It is with great respect and profound admiration that we dedicate this work to Professor Hugo de. Such increase in the reaction temperature can damage the reactor, can generate safety hazards, temperature This feedback mechanism results in the so-called reactor runaway (when the rate of heat can causefar catalyst andremoval). It would generation exceedsdeactivation, the rate of heat Such increase in the reaction temperature can damage of great to reactor designerscan and operators be able to predict thebereactor, canvalue generate safety hazards, cause catalysttodeactivation, and canparametric propitiate sensitivity undesirable conditions. Foriso-xylene only temperature-sensitive probable agreement between thethe different authors between phthalic anhydride and complete oxidation must be followed at least, which causes is that the reactions occur through a “redox” mechanism. To model the highly temperature-sensitive system, the competition between phthalic anhydride and complete oxidation must be followed at least, which causes largeReaction heat effects step[14,15]
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