An internal recirculation reactor and its use in studies of heterogeneous catalysis

• Published in: Applied catalysis 1986-01, Vol.20 (1), p.53-77
• Main Authors: Xie, Ke-Chang, Nobile, A., Sun, Yan-Ping, Han, Zhen-Hai, Guo, Han-Xian
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Catalysis; Catalysts: preparations and properties; Catalytic reactions; Chemistry; Exact sciences and technology; General and physical chemistry; General. Nomenclature, chemical documentation, computer chemistry; Other techniques and industries; Theory of reactions, general kinetics; Theory of reactions, general kinetics. Catalysis. Nomenclature, chemical documentation, computer chemistry
• ISSN: 0166-9834
• DOI: 10.1016/0166-9834(86)80006-9

A laboratory catalytic reactor based on internal recirculation was constructed and modified to provide reliable kinetic data for heterogeneous catalytic reactions, in particular, for SO 2 oxidation. The performance characteristics of the reactor and its critical parts were evaluated and determined by residence time distribution. A catalyst bed was calibrated in a special flow equipment for flow vs. pressure drop in a similar way to that reported by Berty. A new modified method and experimental technique applied to estimation of the composition and temperature changes in the catalyst bed and to evaluation of the degree of mixing in the reactor under the reacting conditions was proposed and tested. The effect of the imperfections (mass transport resistance) in the reactor design was investigated by carrying out the reaction to the same degree of conversion with different catalyst particle size and with different impeller speeds, respectively. An analysis of the reactor parameters was performed in order to verify the results of the empirical tests. The intrinsic kinetics of SO 2 oxidation on commercial vanadium catalysts, K 2SO 4-V 2O 5 and K 2SO 4-Na 2SO 4-V 2O 5, was studied in detail and an optimum rate equation, compared with those proposed previously, which can be used in designing an industrial reactor was developed.