Chapter 5

REACTOR CONFIGURATION

Reactor operation in
order of precedence

Adiabatic operation

(simplest and cheapest)

Cold shot & Hot shot

(direct contact heat transfer, control reaction rate)

Indirect heat transfer

(for heat integration / heat recovery)

Heat carrier (inert / feed excess / product recycle)

(for change of heat capacity of mixture)

Catalyst profiles

 Very rapid reaction, must be stopped quickly

Very hot / cold / corrosive products
Fouling problem in conventional exchanger

Steps in
heterogeneous reactions

External diffusion

Internal diffusion
Adsorption / Desorption
Chemical reaction

Contacting patterns for

gasliquid reactors

Plugflow models

(a) Countercurrent packed bed

or plate column

(b) Cocurrent packed bed

(tricklebed reactor)

Packing / trays (heterogeneous

solid catalyst) for interfacial
area

For case with gas flow

greater than liquid flow,
liquid in films form

(c) Inline static mixer

For case which requires
a short residence time

Inline static mixer structure

Inline static mixer structure

Plugflow & Mixedflow models

(d) Spray column

(e) Bubble column

Mixedflow in gas phase, plugflow in

liquid phase

Mixedflow in liquid phase, plugflow in

gas phase

For case with mass transfer resistance

in liquid phase (solid contain or solid
formation in the reaction)

For case with mass transfer resistance in

gas phase (solid contain in liquid),
disadvantage in high viscous liquid

Mixedflow models

(f) Agitated tanks

For case with high viscous liquid

Contacting patterns for

liquidliquid reactors

Plugflow models

(a) Countercurrent packed bed

or plate column

(b) Multistage agitated

contactor

Packing / trays (heterogeneous

solid catalyst) for interfacial
area

A large number of stages

with agitator

(c) Inline static mixer

For case which requires
a short residence time

Plugflow & Mixedflow models

(d) Spray column with heavy liquid

dispersed

(e) Bubble column with light liquid

dispersed

Mixedflow in light liquid phase, plug

flow in heavy liquid phase

Mixedflow in heavy liquid phase, plug

flow in light liquid phase

Mixedflow models

(f) Agitated tank with settler

The more stages that tends to
countercurrent plugflow

Mass transfer driving force

> > > > >

Reactor configurations

Tubular reactors
Suitable to high temperature and high pressure
Combination to static mixers for good mixing
Construction is similar to heat exchanger
Well control of residence time

Stirredtank reactors

Stirredtank reactors
Suitable to both homogeneous and heterogeneous, low
pressure, not high viscous liquid and nonhazardous
chemical
Suitable to batch or semibatch operation because of
flexibility
Combination to jacket, internal coil and flow loop for heat
exchanger
Better temperature control in case of large volume reactor

Fixedbed reactors

Fixedbed reactors

Fixedbed reactors
Most designs approximate to plugflow behavior
The packed bed can be catalyst, solid reactant or serves
only to good contact phase between gas and liquid
Combination to cold / hot shot, intermediate cooling /
heating, or shell & tube heat exchangers
Difficult for temperature control
More popular design is that uses a parallel reactors
system for catalyst regeneration

Movingbed reactors
In case the rate of
degradation in a fixed bed
might be unacceptable
Possible to remove the
catalyst continuously for
regeneration

Fluidizedbed reactors

Fluidizedbed reactors
Catalyst or solid reactant in form of fine particles is held
in suspension for good heat transfer and temperature
uniformity, limitation of hot spot formation
The solid phase tends to be in mixed flow, but the gas
phase behaves more like plug flow. Overall performance
lies somewhere between mixed flow and plug flow
Advantage for removing / adding heat to reactor
through the cycle of catalyst
One disadvantage is that attrition of catalyst, then lost
from the system

Kilns

Kilns

Kilns
For case reactions involving freeflow solid, paste and
slurry materials
The behavior of the reactor usually approximates plug
flow
High temperature reactions demand refractory lined
steel shell and heated by direct firing

Reactor selection for

heterogeneous reactions

The order of precedence

Fixedbed adiabatic

Fixedbed with Cold shot & Hot shot

Tubular with indirect heating / cooling
Moving bed
Fluidized bed

Catalyst deactivation

Fixedbed
adiabatic
for
very
slow DCC
(years)

Tubular
with
indirect heating
/ cooling for
very slow DCC
Fixedbed
with
Cold (years)
shot & Hot
shot for very
slow
DCC
(years)

Moving bed for

slower
DCC
(hours, days)

Fluidized bed
for very short
DCC (seconds)

Capital cost

Moving bed

Fixed
bed
adiabatic

Fixedbed
with Cold
shot & Hot
shot

Tubular with
indirect
heating
/
cooling

Fluidized
bed

Tradeoffs in reactor selection

Reactor size

Interaction
with the rest
process

Reactor
configuration

Selectivity

Catalyst
deactivation