Documentos de Académico
Documentos de Profesional
Documentos de Cultura
Gerhart Eigenberger
Institut fur Chemische Verfahrenstechnik, Universitat Stuttgart, Boblinger Strasse 72,
70199 Stuttgart, Germany
Andrzej Stankiewicz
DSM Research, P.O. Box 18, 6160 MD Geleen, The Netherlands
Idealized mathematical models for multitubular packed-bed reactors, based upon simplifying
assumptions concerning symmetry, regularity, and homogeneity of the packing and the
intertubular space, are commonly used for analysis and design. In reality, substantial deviations
from these assumptions occur and give rise to maldistributions, both for the flow of reactants
through a packed tube and for the flow of a heat-transfer medium through the intertubular
space. These maldistributions and methods of how to deal with them in reactor design and
simulation are reviewed in this paper.The following areas are covered: (i) porosity and flow
patterns inside tubes, (ii) heat and mass transfer inside tubes, (iii) flow distribution over
individual tubes, and (iv) distribution of coolant flow over the intertubular space.
Figure 3. Velocity profiles measured 5 mm below a packing after repeated repackings (symbols) for an mean empty tube velocity of v0
) 0.5 m/s. The solid lines represent the model predictions (from Bey and Eigenberger (1996)).
r,eff
) C1 + C2RePr (1)
f
Figure 7. Cumulative Gaussian distribution for flow rates in Figure 8. Relative yield of maleic anhydride vs normalized flow
individual tubes of a multitubular reactor; points represent a rate; V-Mo catalyst KMD-32; benzene-to-air ratio of 1:66.5; (b)
number of experimental data. coolant of 415 C; (O) coolant of 425 C (from Cybulski and
Gowacka-Lesniak (1974)).
Hence, a mixed deterministic-stochastic model for heat
transfer in packed beds seems to be a reasonable
solution.
Figure 13. Response of the reactor with disk-and-doughnut baffles (a) and of the parallel flow reactor (b) to a step increase in reactant
concentration. Temperature profiles in the tubes positioned at the reactor axis.
Ind. Eng. Chem. Res., Vol. 36, No. 8, 1997 3147
A group from the Industrial Chemistry Research in addition, the development of stochastic reactor mod-
Institute, Warsaw, used subsequently the above-de- els is necessary to cope with the unavoidable random-
scribed two-dimensional cell approach to investigate the ness.
operational characteristics of the so-called mixed-flow For the design and operation of multitubular fixed-
co/countercurrent reactors (Stankiewicz et al., 1986) and bed reactors of industrial dimensions, special care must
the regions of steady-state multiplicity in large-scale be taken to ensure sufficient and equal coolant condi-
industrial reactors for maleic anhydride production tions on the shell side and equal throughput through
(Adamska-Rutkowska et al., 1988, 1990). Modeling all individual tubes. This task, which presented sub-
strategies similar to that proposed by Stankiewicz have stantial problems in the past, has been alleviated to
also been used by other authors, either to study the some extent, on the one hand, through the availability
general characteristics of multitubular units (Baptista of a great number of reliable heat-transfer data for the
and Castro, 1993) or to investigate the influence of the design of the shell side in shell-and-tube heat exchang-
configuration on the reactor controller design (Maciel ers (here, the data of, e.g., VDI, ASME, or HTRI can be
Filho and McGreavy, 1993). recommended for engineering calculations) and, on the
Another, this time dynamic, model of a multitubular other hand, through the development of sufficiently
catalytic reactor was proposed by Stankiewicz and flexible and powerful computational fluid dynamics
Eigenberger (1991). The main assumption and a novel programs in recent years.
feature of this model was a porous body approach,
which implied that the entire intertubular space was Literature Cited
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