MODELING OF TRANSIENT HETEROGENEOUS 2-DIMENSIONAL CATALYTIC PACKED-BED REACTOR

A two-dimensional transient catalytic packed bed model, incorporating all transport parameters and resistances, along with boundary conditions based on a catalytic single pellet has been developed. Thermal conduction through the solid phase is included in the model. The overall steady state reactor performances of packed bed reactor using a model proposed in this study are compared with those from different models which are often used for a packed bed reactor. The model presented is very useful in the presence of internal temperature and concentration gradients in the catalyst pellets. The dynamic behavior in feed temperature change is examined during ethane hydrogenolysis. A transient thermal runaway is observed by feed temperature decrease. The sensitivities of the computation to each physical parameter and the effects of some simplifying assumptions in the model are also analyzed. The magnitude and position of hot spot in catalytic packed bed reactor are relatively sensitive to thermal parameters and characteristic parameters of a catalyst pellet.