Rate enhancement and multiplicity in a partially wetted and filled pellet: Experimental study

Abstract

AbstractPhase transition during an exothermic multiphase reaction was studied experimentally using a single catalytic pellet reactor. Cyclohexene hydrogenation (to cyclohexane) and disproportionation (to benzene and cyclohexane) on Pd/Al2O3 comprised the test reaction system. The steady‐state behavior of the pellet exposed on part of its surface by a flowing liquid rivulet containing the liquid reactant (cyclohexene) and the other part by a flowing gas containing the gaseous reactant (hydrogen) was examined. Measurements included the pellet weight (liquid holdup), degree of external wetting, center and surf ace temperature and overall reaction rates. Two regimes observed are: a low‐rate regime for all hydrogen gas‐phase concentrations in which the partially wetted pellet is filled mostly with liquid and nearly isothermal; a high‐rate regime for hydrogen concentrations exceeding a critical value in which the pellet is filled only partially with liquid and the pellet temperature rise is considerable. Benzene formation was observed in this state. The difference in overall cyclohexane formation rates between the two states was as high as a factor of 20 for the same bulk conditions. Over the range where multiple states were observed, the steady state of the pellet depended on whether the pellet was pref tiled with the reactive gas mixture or with liquid cyclohexene. The range over which the high‐rate state was sustained was the largest for the most active catalyst and declined as the catalyst slowly deactivated. Data features are interpreted using the theoretical foundations of the half‐wetted catalytic slab model (Harold and Watson, 1993).