DESIGN ALTERNATIVES

1. PACKED BED REACTOR INSTEAD OF MULTITUBULER PACKED

BED REACTOR.

A fixed bed reactor usually consists of a cylindrical vessel packed with

catalyst pellets and easy to design and operate. The metal support grid and
screen is placed near the bottom to support the catalyst. Inert ceramic balls are
placed above the catalyst bed to distribute the feed evenly.
Advantages of packed bed or fixed bed reactor include ideal plug flow
behavior, lower maintenance cost and reduced loss due to attrition and wear.
Heat management is very important aspect for design of fixed bed reactor.
Poor heat distribution may result in non-uniform reaction rates and
consequently low reactant conversion. Poor heat transfer may also result in
generation of hot spots and thermal degradation of catalyst. However, the
Situations are observed more in large fixed bed and for highly exothermic or
endothermic reactions when temperature control is difficult and it can cause
explosion and runaway reaction due to exothermicity of reaction. The
regeneration or replacement of catalyst is also difficult in fixed bed reactors
and process needs to be shutdown. Another major disadvantage of packed bed
reactor is plugging of bed due to coke deposition which results in high
pressure drop. High pressure drop is also observed for small beads or pellets
of catalysts. However, increase in pellet size increases the pore diffusion
Limitation.

Major engineering problem with packed bed reactor

• Reactor design for heat of reaction

Instead of using a tubular reactor design with heat removal through the walls,
the stage-wise packed tower with propane sensible heat quench was design
Propane was already in the feed as an inert component and dilution also
minimize polycumene formation. Steam or water injection is for additional
heat removal. However, the Situations are observed more in large fixed bed
and for highly exothermic when temperature control is difficult it can cause
explosion and runaway reaction due to exothermicity of reaction.