THE SOLVING OF THE PROBLEM IN THE WORKING ZONE. THE NUMERICAL CALCULATION OF THE MODEL OF THE NIZHNEKAMSK REACTOR FOR THE STYRENE PRODUCTION (PART-3)

Heterogeneous catalytic processes conducted in axial or radial type reactors with a still catalytic layer are some of the most important elements of the chemical technology. The attention of scientists and manufacturers to the investigation and application of these contact units deals with the following advantages: a highly developed surface of a phase separation, a possibility to provide a high flow velocity and hence to decrease sizes and a material consumption, a construction simplicity and a reliability of an exploit. Improving an operation of contact units may be achieved by refining present technologies, catalysts, disperse system structures and by creating new ones. Nevertheless, in some cases large scale hydrodynamic heterogeneities in a working zone of the unit cancel out efforts to increase an efficiency of chemical, heat/mass transfer and other processes. The exploration of reasons of the hydrodynamic heterogeneities formation requires an investigation of liquid and gas motion physics features in granular layers. A practice of a chemical reactors exploitation reveals that technical and economical indicators of an industrial process are as a rule lower than the calculated ones, derived on a stage of the process design. Now it can be considered proven that one of the reasons affecting the reactor output is the heterogeneity of a reagents flow in a granular catalyst layer. The article deals with a mathematical modeling of an incompressible liquid flow in flat and radial contact units with the still granular layer and a creation of numerical realization methods for the model We propose a cycle of articles dealt with a model of a real reactor that consists of three parts: a distributing manifold, a collecting manifold and a working zone, where the still layer of a granular catalyst is loaded. An input and an output are made with a Z-shaped scheme. We consider processes and their equations in each reactor zone in detail.

Development of (γ-Al2O3-Zeolite Y)/α-Al2O3-HPCM Catalyst based on Highly Porous α-Al2O3-HPCM Support for Decreasing Oil Viscosity

Highly porous cellular material (α-Al2O3-HPCM) support was synthesized by the template method. Highly porous support was used for the synthesis of the catalyst. A thin secondary layer with 25–30 μ thick γ-Al2O3 and zeolite Y was applied on the α-Al2O3-HPCM surface ((γ-Al2O3 (85%)-zeolite Y (15%))/α-Al2O3-HPCM). The catalyst based on the highly porous support was tested in a process of decreasing oil viscosity. The catalyst in the form of cylindrical granules and a thermal process of decreasing oil viscosity without the catalyst were used as the basis for comparison. α-Al2O3-HPCM in the catalyst provides low-quantity pores (d < 10 nm) and a quantity of general acid centers compared with the granular catalyst. On the other hand, it shows a more significant oil viscosity decrease (from 2500 to 41 cPs) and a low rate of gas generation (137 mL/h) for the catalyst with highly porous support. A high oil fraction was observed in the presence of the (γ-Al2O3-zeolite Y)/α-Al2O3-HPCM compared to the granular catalyst. The presence of large transport cells (pores) 1500–2000 μ for the catalyst based on highly porous support allowed a work period four times longer than that of experiment only with temperature without catalysts.

Numerical study of the flow of a mixture of reacting gases in an inhomogeneous catalyst layer

The behavior of a liquid flowing through a fixed bulk porous layer of a granular catalyst is considered. The effects of the nonuniformity of the fluid velocity field, which arise when the surface of the layer is curved, and the effect of the resulting inhomogeneity on the speed and nature of the course of chemical reactions are investigated by the methods of a computational experiment.