Temperature and Concentration Distributions in Fixed-bed Catalytic Reactors : Comparison of Calculated with Experimental Results

Abstract

Fixed-bed catalytic reactors are most widely used for vapor-phase reactions catalyzed by solid particles. Although theoretical studies concerned with the design method have been extensively performed, few systematic experimental substantiations have been presented. The purpose of this paper is to obtain the necessary data for the reactor design and to evaluate the accuracy of the design method. The radial temperature profiles and the mean conversions at various catalyst heights were measured in a 5.0 cm I.D. reactor where the hydrogenation of benzene takes place on a nickel-kieselguhr catalyst. The basic design data, the rate of reaction and the heat transfer characteristics in a fixed bed were also presented. A numerical design method used here is similar to those developed by Smith and Walas with suitable modification. Profiles of temperature and conversion predicted by the numerical method were in good agreement with the experimental data.