Conversion Enhancement of Fixed-Bed Reactors Using Two-Dimensional Hollow Cylindrical Catalyst Pellet

Abstract

Abstract The key challenge in the operation of any industrial fixed-bed heterogeneous reactor is to enhance the conversion level while keeping the pressure-drop low. Towards this end, the use of finite hollow cylindrical catalyst pellets instead of spherical ones is proposed here. The absence of the pellet core helps to lower the effect of the internal mass transport resistance besides providing a greater surface area. Another equally important advantage is a lower pressure-drop due to the higher bed void fraction associated with hollow pellets. A rigorous model of the heterogeneous fixed-bed reactor containing finite hollow cylindrical catalyst pellet is presented here accounting for the concentration gradients both in the axial as well as the radial directions, thus, resulting in a two-dimensional partial differential equation for the solid catalytic phase.