Apparatus and method for hotspot detection in a tube bundle reactor

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2024173684-A1
Application number	US-202218282574-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Mar 18, 2022
Priority date	Mar 19, 2021
Publication date	May 30, 2024
Grant date	—

Abstract

Chemical reactor comprising an educt space with inlet means for feeding at least one educt stream into said space: a product space with outlet means for removing at least one product stream from said space: a plurality of parallel tubes extending from the educt space to the product space in an axial direction, forming a tube bundle, wherein the tubes comprise at least one heterogeneous catalyst: a cooling liquid space surrounding at least a section of the tube bundle, wherein said space has an inlet and an outlet spaced from the inlet at least in the axial direction, and wherein the cooling liquid space defines a cooling liquid flow path between inlet and outlet: n cooling liquid temperature measuring devices MD(i), i=1 . . . n, n>2, inside the cooling liquid space, wherein MD(i+1), is located upstream of MD(i) in the cooling liquid flow path.

First claim

1 .- 16 . (canceled)

17 . A chemical reactor comprising (i) an educt space and a product space;
(ii) educt space inlet means for feeding at least one educt stream into the educt space, and product space outlet means for removing at least one product stream from the product space; (iii) a plurality of tubes extending, parallel to one another from the educt space to the product space according to (i), in an axial direction forming a tube bundle, wherein the tubes are at least partially filled with a heterogeneous catalyst; (iv) a cooling liquid space surrounding at least a section of the tube bundle according to (iii), wherein the cooling liquid space has a cooling liquid inlet and a cooling liquid outlet being spaced from the cooling liquid inlet at least in the axial direction, and wherein the cooling liquid space defines a cooling liquid flow path between the cooling liquid inlet and the cooling liquid outlet; (v) n temperature measuring devices MD(i), i=1 . . . n, n>2, located inside the cooling liquid space, wherein MD(i+1), i<n, is located upstream of MD(i) in the cooling liquid flow path, for measuring the respective temperatures T(i) of the cooling liquid.

18 . The chemical reactor of claim 17 , wherein the cooling liquid space comprises m main sections MS(j), j=1 . . . m, m≥2, wherein in a main section MS(j), the cooling liquid has an average flow direction f(j), wherein f(j) is essentially perpendicular to the axial direction of the tube bundle, and wherein the cooling liquid space further comprises m−1 deflection sections DS(j), j=1 . . . m−1, wherein a deflection section DS(j) connects two adjacent main sections MS(j) and MS(j+1), j<m, wherein in a deflection section DS(j), the flow direction f(j) is deflected so that the flow direction f(j+1) is essentially opposite to f(j).

19 . The chemical reactor of claim 18 , wherein each temperature measuring device MD(i) is located in a deflection section DS(j).

20 . The chemical reactor of claim 18 , wherein the tube bundle according to (i) extends through the main sections MS(j).

21 . The chemical reactor of claim 17 , wherein the axial direction according to (i) is an essentially vertical direction.

22 . The chemical reactor of claim 17 , wherein the measurement of the respective temperatures T(i) of the cooling liquid is done simultaneously by the n temperature measuring devices MD(i) at least during subjecting the educt stream to exothermic reaction conditions in the tubes of the tube bundle obtaining a product stream, wherein the reaction conditions comprise contacting the educt stream with the heterogeneous catalyst with which the tubes of the tube bundles are at least partially filled, obtaining a set S(T(i)) of n temperatures T(i), wherein during subjecting the educt stream to exothermic reaction conditions, the temperature differences ΔT(i)=T(i)−T(i+1), i=1 . . . n−1, are calculated based on the temperatures T(i) measured, and wherein i is determined for which ΔT(i) exhibits its maximum, said i being defined as i(max), and
wherein at least during subjecting the at least one educt stream to exothermic reaction conditions the n temperatures T(i) of the cooling liquid are measured at consecutive times t(k), obtaining k temperatures T(i), T k (i), k sets of the n temperatures T(i), S k (T(i)), and, for each S k (T(i)), a respective i k (max).

23 . A method for producing a chemical compound in an exothermic reaction, a hydrogenation reaction, or a chlorination reaction comprising the chemical reactor of claim 17 .

24 . A chemical production unit comprising the chemical reactor of claim 17 and a temperature monitoring means for receiving and monitoring signals from the temperature measuring devices MD(i).

25 . The chemical production unit of claim 24 , wherein the temperature monitoring means further comprises a signal processing means and a calculating means.

26 . A method for operating the chemical reactor according to claim 17 , the method comprising
(a) preparing a product stream in a heterogeneously catalyzed exothermic reaction, comprising
(a.1) feeding an educt stream via the educt space inlet means according to (ii) into educt space according to (i) and into the tubes of the tube bundle according to (iii);
(a.2) subjecting the educt stream to exothermic reaction conditions in the tubes of the tube bundle obtaining a product stream, the reaction conditions comprising contacting the educt stream with the heterogeneous catalyst with which the tubes of the tube bundles are at least partially filled;
(a.3) removing the product stream from the educt space according to (i) via the product space outlet means according to (ii);
(b) cooling, at least during subjecting the stream to exothermic reaction conditions according to (a.2), the tube bundle with a cooling liquid stream, said cooling comprising feeding the cooling liquid stream via the cooling liquid inlet into the cooling liquid space according to (iv), passing the cooling liquid stream through the cooling liquid space, and removing the cooling liquid stream from the cooling liquid space via the cooling liquid outlet according to (iv); (c) simultaneously measuring the n temperatures T(i) of the cooling liquid by means of each of the n temperature measuring devices MD(i) according to (v), at least during subjecting the educt stream to exothermic reaction conditions according to (a.2), obtaining a set S(T(i)) of n temperatures T(i).

27 . The method of claim 26 , further comprising, during subjecting the at least one educt stream to exothermic reaction conditions according to (a.2), calculating the temperature differences ΔT(i)=T(i)−T(i+1), i=1 . . . n−1, based on the temperatures T(i) measured according to (c), and determining i for which ΔT(i) exhibits its maximum, said i being defined as i(max).

28 . The method of claim 27 , wherein at least during subjecting the at least one educt stream to exothermic reaction conditions according to (a.2), the n temperatures T(i) of the cooling liquid are measured at consecutive times t(k), obtaining k temperatures T(i), T k (i), k sets of the n temperatures T(i), S k (T(i)), and, for each S k (T(i)), a respective i k (max).

29 . A method detecting the hotspot of a heterogeneously catalyzed exothermic reaction in a tube bundle reactor, the method comprising the method according to claim 26 .

30 . The method of claim 29 , wherein the method further comprises tracking the deactivation of a heterogeneous catalyst in an exothermic reaction in the tubes of a tube bundle reactor.

31 . A method for detecting the hotspot of a heterogeneously catalyzed exothermic reaction in a tube bundle reactor comprising the reactor according to claim 17 .

32 . A method for tracking the deactivation of a heterogeneous catalyst in an exothermic reaction in the tubes of a tube bundle reactor comprising the method of claim 31 .

Assignees

• Basf Se

Inventors

• Olbert Gerhard
• Mattke Torsten
• Ferbitz Jens
• Vandewalle Koenraad
• Thiele Kai
• Van Den Abeel Peter

Classifications

• B01J8/065 Primary

  Feeding reactive fluids · CPC title

• B01J8/067

  Heating or cooling the reactor (B01J8/062 takes precedence) · CPC title

• B01J2208/00053

  of the heat exchange medium · CPC title

• B01J2208/00088

  Flow rate measurement · CPC title

• B01J2208/00256

  in a heat exchanger for the heat exchange medium separate from the reactor · CPC title