Reactors and reactor-internal devices for dehydrogenation of hydrocarbons

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10201792-B2
Application number	US-201615572843-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 12, 2016
Priority date	May 14, 2015
Publication date	Feb 12, 2019
Grant date	Feb 12, 2019

Abstract

A fixed bed reactor for cyclic, catalytic dehydrogenation of hydrocarbons, such as alkanes and a reactor-internal device for improving distribution of hydrocarbon feed into the fixed catalyst bed of the reactor. The device comprises a vertical deflector plate with multiple horizontal slits and a frustum cone with multiple perforations on the lateral surface, connected to the bottom end of the plate. The reactor includes a main horizontal reaction vessel containing a fixed catalyst bed and a cactus-shaped inlet assembly sub-divided into three inlets at the upper half portion to supply fluid streams, including hydrocarbon feed, to the catalyst bed. The distributor device is positioned inside a main central vertical arm of the inlet assembly form by the convergence of the three inlets. Various embodiments of the distributor device where the slit thicknesses, distance between slits, perforation diameter, distance between perforations are varied, are also provided.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A device for distributing one or more fluid streams evenly into a catalyst bed comprising:
a vertical deflector plate having a top end, a bottom end and a vertical span, the vertical span comprising a plurality of horizontal slits along the vertical span length; and
a frustum cone connected to the bottom end, the frustum cone having an angled, lateral surface comprising a plurality of perforations arranged in rows having a triangular pitch.

2. The device of claim 1 , wherein the horizontal slits are parallel to one another.

3. The device of claim 1 , wherein the horizontal slits have equal or varying thicknesses of 0.1-0.5 meters.

4. The device of claim 1 , wherein the perforations have equal or varying diameters of 0.5-20.0 centimeters.

5. The device of claim 1 , wherein the perforations have triangular pitch of equal or varying lengths.

6. The device of claim 1 , wherein the horizontal slits have equal or varying distances between one another of 20-120 millimeters.

7. The device of claim 1 , wherein the perforations have equal or varying distances between one another of 0.1-2.0 centimeters.

8. A fixed bed reactor system, comprising:
a horizontal vessel comprising an elongated, fixed catalyst bed positioned inside the horizontal vessel laterally along the length of the horizontal vessel;
an inlet assembly connected to a central top portion of the horizontal vessel, the inlet assembly having an upper half portion and a lower half portion, the upper half portion comprising first, second and third inlets wherein the first inlet and the second inlet are inclined with respect to the vertical axis of the inlet assembly, the first, the second and the third inlets converging to form the lower half portion comprising a central arm; and
a feed distributor contained inside the central arm downstream of the first, the second and the third inlets and upstream of the fixed catalyst bed, the feed distributor comprising a deflector plate and a frustum cone, the deflector plate having a top end, a bottom end and a vertical span, the vertical span comprising a plurality of horizontal slits along the vertical span length, the frustum cone connected to the bottom end and having an angled, lateral surface comprising a plurality of perforations arranged in rows with triangular pitch.

9. The fixed bed reactor system of claim 8 , wherein the horizontal slits are parallel to one another.

10. The fixed bed reactor system of claim 8 , wherein the frustum cone further comprises a base edge that aligns with the central top portion of the horizontal vessel.

11. The fixed bed reactor system of claim 8 , wherein the feed distributor has a height that is at least half of the height of the inlet assembly.

12. The fixed bed reactor system of claim 8 , wherein the fixed catalyst bed comprises a catalyst selected from the group consisting of a chromia-alumina catalyst, a chromium-based catalyst, a silica-based catalyst, a zirconia-based catalyst, an alumina-based catalyst, a zeolite-based catalyst and a catalyst suitable for catalyzing dehydrogenation of hydrocarbons.

13. The fixed bed reactor system of claim 8 , wherein the horizontal vessel further comprises one or more outlets for emission of reaction products.

14. The fixed bed reactor system of claim 8 , wherein the horizontal vessel further comprises one or more distributor trays above the fixed catalyst bed and below the feed distributor.

15. The fixed bed reactor system of claim 8 , wherein the horizontal slits have equal or varying thicknesses of 0.1-0.5 millimeters, wherein the horizontal slits have equal or varying distances between one another of 20-120 meters.

16. The fixed bed reactor system of claim 8 , wherein the perforations have equal or varying diameters of 1.0-20.0 centimeters, wherein the perforations have equal or varying distances between one another of 0.25-2.0 centimeters.

17. The fixed bed reactor system of claim 8 , wherein the triangular pitches have equal or varying lengths.

18. A method of producing an olefin by dehydrogenation of a corresponding alkane, comprising:
contacting the corresponding alkane with a fixed bed reactor system comprising a horizontal vessel comprising an elongated, fixed catalyst bed positioned inside the horizontal vessel laterally along the length of the horizontal vessel;
an inlet assembly connected to a central top portion of the horizontal vessel, the inlet assembly having an upper half portion and a lower half portion, the upper half portion comprising first, second and third inlets wherein the first inlet and the second inlet are inclined with respect to the vertical axis of the inlet assembly, the first, the second and the third inlets converging to form the lower half portion comprising a central arm; and
a feed distributor contained inside the central arm downstream of the first, the second and the third inlets and upstream of the fixed catalyst bed, the feed distributor comprising a deflector plate and a frustum cone, the deflector plate having a top end, a bottom end and a vertical span, the vertical span comprising a plurality of horizontal slits along the vertical span length, the frustum cone connected to the bottom end and having an angled, lateral surface comprising a plurality of perforations arranged in rows with triangular pitch;
wherein the alkane is contacted with the fixed catalyst bed at a temperature of 600-650° C.

19. The method of claim 18 , wherein the one or more fluid streams comprise a hydrocarbon feed stream.

20. The method of claim 18 , wherein the hydrocarbon feed stream is selected from a propane stream, an n-butane stream, an isobutane stream, an isopentane stream, or a combination comprising at least one of the foregoing.

Assignees

• Sabic Global Technologies Bv

Inventors

• GANGULI Arijit
• Nair Vinod S
• Bunama Ramsey

Classifications

• B01J8/0278 Primary

  Feeding reactive fluids (for solid material B01J8/0015) · CPC title

• B01J8/0242

  the fluid flow within the bed being predominantly vertical · CPC title

• B01J2208/00938

  Flow distribution elements · CPC title

• B01J4/005

  provided with baffles · CPC title

• B01J2208/0092

  Perforated plates · CPC title