Reactor and temperature control method thereof

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2017282149-A1
Application number	US-201615345175-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Nov 7, 2016
Priority date	Mar 31, 2016
Publication date	Oct 5, 2017
Grant date	—

Abstract

A reactor suitable for a reaction containing an exothermic reaction is provided. The reactor includes the following components. A reaction channel has an inlet and an outlet, and has a front-end reaction zone, middle-end reaction zones, and a back-end reaction zone from the inlet to the outlet. A front-end catalyst support and a front-end catalyst are located in the front-end reaction zone, a middle-end catalyst support and a middle-end catalyst are respectively located in the middle-end reaction zones, and a back-end catalyst support and a back-end catalyst are located in the back-end reaction zone. The concentration of the front-end catalyst is less than the concentration of the back-end catalyst, and the concentration of the middle-end catalyst is decided via a computer simulation of reaction parameters. The reaction parameters include size and geometric shape of the reaction channel.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A reactor suitable for a reaction containing an exothermic reaction, wherein the reactor comprises:
a reaction channel having an inlet and an outlet, and the reaction channel has a front-end reaction zone, middle-end reaction zones, and a back-end reaction zone from the inlet to the outlet; a front-end catalyst support, a middle-end catalyst support, and a back-end catalyst support are respectively located in the front-end reaction zone, the middle-end reaction zones, and the back-end reaction zone; and a front-end catalyst, a middle-end catalyst, and a back-end catalyst are respectively located on the front-end catalyst support, the middle-end catalyst support, and the back-end catalyst support, wherein a concentration of the front-end catalyst in the front-end reaction zone is less than a concentration of the back-end catalyst in the back-end reaction zone, and a concentration of the middle-end catalyst in each of the middle-end reaction zones is decided by a computer simulation of reaction parameters, and the reaction parameters comprise a size and a geometric shape of the reaction channel.

2 . The reactor of claim 1 , wherein the exothermic reaction comprises an oxidative steam reforming of methanol, a methanol partial oxidation reaction, a sulfur dioxide oxidation reaction, or an ethylene partial oxidation reaction.

3 . The reactor of claim 1 , wherein the geometric shape of the reaction channel comprises spiral, bellow, a microreactor chamber array, or a parallel straight tube array.

4 . The reactor of claim 1 , wherein the front-end reaction zone, the middle-end reaction zones, and the back-end reaction zone are separately disposed from one another.

5 . The reactor of claim 1 , wherein materials of the front-end catalyst, the middle-end catalyst, and the back-end catalyst comprise copper-palladium-cerium-zinc catalyst, copper-manganese-zinc catalyst, vanadium pentoxide, or silver.

6 . The reactor of claim 1 , wherein materials of the front-end catalyst support, the middle-end catalyst support, and the back-end catalyst support comprise metal foam, ceramic foam, or ceramic particles.

7 . The reactor of claim 1 , wherein a specific surface area of the front-end catalyst support is less than or equal to a specific surface area of the back-end catalyst support.

8 . The reactor of claim 1 , wherein the reaction parameters further comprise at least one of a reaction heat of the exothermic reaction, concentrations and flow rates of reactants, a thermal conductivity and a specific surface area of the middle-end catalyst support, a thermal conductivity of the middle-end catalyst, and a thermal conductivity of the reaction channel.

9 . The reactor of claim 1 , wherein the concentration of the back-end catalyst is greater than the concentration of the middle-end catalyst, and the concentration of the middle-end catalyst is greater than the concentration of the front-end catalyst.

10 . The reactor of claim 9 , wherein a mode of change from the concentration of the middle-end catalyst closest to the inlet to the concentration of the middle-end catalyst closest to the outlet comprises monotonically increasing, monotonically decreasing, or a combination thereof.

11 . The reactor of claim 9 , wherein the concentrations of the middle-end catalyst in the middle-end reaction zones are the same.

12 . The reactor of claim 1 , wherein the concentration of the front-end catalyst and the concentration of the back-end catalyst are decided by the computer simulation of the reaction parameters.

13 . The reactor of claim 12 , wherein the reaction parameters further comprise at least one of thermal conductivities and specific surface areas of the front-end catalyst support and the back-end catalyst support, thermal conductivities of the front-end catalyst and the back-end catalyst, and a thermal conductivity of the reaction channel.

14 . A reactor temperature control method, wherein the reactor comprises a reaction channel having an inlet and an outlet, the reactor temperature control method is suitable for a reaction containing an exothermic reaction, and comprises:
dividing the reaction channel into a front-end reaction zone, middle-end reaction zones, and a back-end reaction zone from the inlet to the outlet; respectively disposing a front-end catalyst support, a middle-end catalyst support, a the back-end catalyst support in the front-end reaction zone, the middle-end reaction zones, and the back-end reaction zone; performing a computer simulation step, in which a concentration of a middle-end catalyst in each of the middle-end reaction zones is calculated according to reaction parameters, and the reaction parameters comprise a size and a geometric shape of the reaction channel; respectively forming a front-end catalyst and a back-end catalyst on the front-end catalyst support and the back-end catalyst support, wherein a concentration of the front-end catalyst in the front-end reaction zone is less than a concentration of the back-end catalyst in the back-end reaction zone; and forming the middle-end catalyst on the middle-end catalyst support according to the concentration of the middle-end catalyst calculated by the computer simulation step.

15 . The method of claim 14 , wherein a method of respectively forming the front-end catalyst, the middle-end catalyst, and the back-end catalyst on the front-end catalyst support, the middle-end catalyst support, and the back-end catalyst support comprises an immersion method, a coprecipitation method, a precipitation method, a sol-gel method, a polyol method, a chemical vapor deposition method, or a combination thereof.

16 . The method of claim 14 , wherein the reaction parameters further comprise at least one of a reaction heat of the exothermic reaction, concentrations and flow rates of reactants, a thermal conductivity and a specific surface area of the middle-end catalyst support, a thermal conductivity of the middle-end catalyst, and a thermal conductivity of the reaction channel.

17 . The method of claim 14 , wherein the concentration of the back-end catalyst is greater than the concentration of the middle-end catalyst, and the concentration of the middle-end catalyst is greater than the concentration of the front-end catalyst.

18 . The method of claim 17 , wherein a mode of change from the concentration of the middle-end catalyst closest to the inlet to the concentration of the middle-end catalyst closest to the outlet comprises monotonically increasing, monotonically decreasing, or a combination thereof.

19 . The method of claim 17 , wherein the concentrations of the middle-end catalyst in the middle-end reaction zones are the same.

20 . The method of claim 14 , wherein the computer simulation step further comprises calculating the concentration of the front-end catalyst and the concentration of the back-end catalyst according to the reaction parameters, and
in the step in which the front-end catalyst and the back-end catalyst are respectively formed on the front-end catalyst support and the back-end catalyst support, the concentration of the front-end catalyst and the concentration of the back-end catalyst are decided according to calculation results of the computer simulation step.

21 . The method of claim 20 , wherein the reaction parameters further comprise at least one of thermal conductivities and specific surface areas of the front-end catalyst support and the back-end catalyst support, thermal con

Assignees

• Nat Univ Tsing Hua

Inventors

• Tseng Fan-Gang
• Liu Chun

Classifications

• B01J19/0013 Primary

  Controlling the temperature of the process · CPC title

• C01B2203/0261

  containing a catalytic partial oxidation step [CPO] · CPC title

• C01B2203/143

  Three or more reforming, decomposition or partial oxidation steps in series · CPC title

• C01B2203/1247

  Higher hydrocarbons · CPC title

• C01B2203/0883

  by indirect heat exchange · CPC title