Radial mass transfer effects in a porous wall tubular reactor

Abstract

A porous wall tubular reactor with selective suction or injection of the reactant and/or the product and/or the inert offers many advantages over a conventional solid wall tubular reactor. However, the usage of this type of reactor requires a thorough knowledge of the effects of radial mass transfer on the performance of the reactor. The present paper analyzes these effects under plug as well as laminar flow conditions and for an isothermal, first order irreversible reaction process. Both bulk phase and surface catalyzed reaction processes are considered. The results of the analysis are presented and interpreted in terms of the quantity of feed reactant depleted by the reaction within the reactor, under a variety of reaction, flow and radial mass transfer conditions.