Simulation of biodiesel industrial production via solid base catalyst in a fixed-bed reactor

Biodiesel industrial production based on a solid base catalyst in a fixed-bed was simulated. The lab and bench scale experiments were carded out effectively, in which the kinetic model is established and it can describe the transesterification reaction well. The Antoine equation of biodiesel is regressed with the vapor-liquid data cited of literature. The non-random two liquid （NRTL） model is applied to describe the system of fatty acid methyl ester （FAME）, methanol and glycerol and parameters are obtained. The Ternary phase map is obtained from Aspen Plus via the liquid-liquid equilibrium （LLE） data. In order to describe the production in a fixed-bed performs in industrial scale after being magnified 1 000 times, the Aspen Plus simulation is employed, where two flowsheets are simulated to predict material and energy consumption. The simulation results prove that at least 350. 42 kW energy consumption can be reduced per hour to produce per ton biodiesel compared with data reported in previous references.

Carbon Dioxide Captured from Flue Gas by Modified Ca-based Sorbents in Fixed-bed Reactor at High Temperature

Four kinds of Ca-based sorbents were prepared by calcination and hydration reactions using different precursors： calcium hydroxide, calcium carbonate, calcium acetate monohydrate and calcium oxide. The CO2 absorption capacity of those sorbents was investigated in a fixed-bed reactor in the temperature range of 350-650 ℃. It was found that all of those sorbents showed higher capacity for CO2 absorption when the operating temperature higher than 450 ℃. The CaAc2-CaO sorbent showed the highest CO2 absorption capacity of 299 mg.g-1. The mor- phology of those sorbents was examined by scanning electron microscope （SEM）, and the changes of composition before and after carbonation were also determined by X-ray diffraction （XRD）. Results indicated that those sorbents have the similar chemical compositions and crystalline phases before carbonation reaction [mainly Ca（OH）2], and CaCO3 is the main component after carbonation reaction. The SEM morphology shows clearly that the sorbent pores were filled with reaction products after carbonation reaction, and became much denser than before. The N2 adsorption-desorption isotherms indicated that the CaAc2-CaO and CaCO3-CaO sorbents have higher specific surface area. lar2er oore volume and anoropriate pore size distribution than that of CaO-CaO and Ca（OH）2-CaO.

Scale up and stability test for oxidative coupling of methane over Na_2WO_4-Mn/SiO_2 catalyst in a 200 ml fixed-bed reactor

The study of scale up for the oxidative coupling of methane （OCM） has been carried out in a 200 ml stainless steel fixed-bed reactor over a 5wt% Na2WO4-1.9wt% Mn/SiO2 （W-Mn/SiO2） catalyst. The effects of reaction conditions were investigated in detail. The results showed that, with increasing reaction temperature, the gas-phase reaction was enhanced and a significant amount of methane was converted into COx; with the CH4/O2 molar ratio of 5, the highest C2 （ethylene and ethane） yield of 25% was achieved; the presence of steam （as diluent） had a positive effect on the C2 selectivity and yield. Under lower methane gaseous hourly space velocity （GHSV）, higher selectivity and yield of C2 were obtained as the result of the decrease of released heat energy. In 100 h reaction time, the C2 selectivity of 66%-61% and C2 yield of 24.2%-25.4% were achieved by a single pass without any significant loss in catalytic performance.

Changes in char reactivity due to char-oxygen and char-steam reactions using Victorian brown coal in a fixed-bed reactor

This study was to examine the influence of reactions of char–O2and char–steam on the char reactivity evolution.A newly-designed fixed-bed reactor was used to conduct gasification experiments using Victorian brown coal at800 °C. The chars prepared from the gasification experiments were then collected and subjected to reactivity characterisation(ex-situ reactivity) using TGA(thermogravimetric analyser) in air. The results indicate that the char reactivity from TGA was generally high when the char experienced intensive gasification reactions in 0.3%O2in the fixed-bed reactor. The addition of steam into the gasification not only enhanced the char conversion significantly but also reduced the char reactivity dramatically. The curve shapes of the char reactivity with involvement of steam were very different from that with O2 gasification, implying the importance of gasifying agents to char properties.

Experimental Study and Modeling of an Adiabatic Fixed-bed Reactor for Methanol Dehydration to Dimethyl Ether

One-dimensional heterogeneous plug flow model was employed to model an adiabatic fixed-bed reactor for the catalytic dehydration of methanol to dimethyl ether.Longitudinal temperature and conversion profiles predicted by this model were compared to those experimentally measured in a bench scale reactor.The reactor was packed with 1.5mm γ-Al2O3 pellets as dehydration catalyst and operated in a temperature range of 543-603K at an atmospheric pressure.Also,the effects of weight hourly space velocity(WHSV)and temperature on methanol conversion were investigated.According to the results,the maximum conversion is obtained at 603.15K with WHSV of 72.87h-1.

Conversion enhancement of tubular fixed-bed reactor for Fischer-Tropsch synthesis using static mixer

Recently, Fischer-Tropsch synthesis （FTS） has become an interesting technology because of its potential role in producing biofuels via Biomass- to-Liquids （BTL） processes. In Fischer-Tropsch （FT） section, biomass-derived syngas, mainly composed of a mixture of carbon monoxide （CO） and hydrogen （H2）, is converted into various forms of hydrocarbon products over a catalyst at specified temperature and pressure. Fixed-bed reactors are typically used for these processes as conventional FT reactors. The fixed-bed or packed-bed type reactor has its drawbacks, which are heat transfer limitation, i.e. a hot spot problem involved highly exothermic characteristics of FT reaction, and mass transfer limitation due to the condensation of liquid hydrocarbon products occurred on catalyst surface. This work is initiated to develop a new chemical reactor design in which a better distribution of gaseous reactants and hydrocarbon products could be achieved, and led to higher throughput and conversion. The main goal of the research is the enhancement of a fixed-bed reactor, focusing on the application of KenicsTM static mixer insertion in the tubular packed-bed reactor. Two FTS experiments were carried out using two reactors i.e., with and without static mixer insertion within catalytic beds. The modeled syngas used was a mixed gas composed of H2/CO in 2 ： 1 molar ratio that was fed at the rate of 30 mL（STP）·min^- 1 （GHSV ≈ 136 mL·gcat^-1 ·h^-1） into the fixed Ru supported aluminum catalyst bed of weight 13.3 g. The reaction was carried out at 180 ℃ and atmospheric pressure continuously for 36 h for both experiments. Both transient and steady-state conversions （in terms of time on stream） were reported. The results revealed that the steady-state CO conversion for the case using the static mixer was approximately 3.5 times higher than that of the case without static mixer. In both cases, the values of chain growth probability of hydrocarbon products （α） for Fischer-Tropsch synthesis were 0.92 and 0.89 for the case with and without static mixer, respectively.

A Simulation Study of the Steam Reforming of Methaneina Fixed-Bed Reactor

In this work a one-dimensional mathematical model was developed to simulate methane conversion and hydrogen yield in a fixed-bed reactor filled with catalyst particles. For the reason that reforming reactions are sorely endothermic process, the heat is supplied to the reactor through electrical heating. The reforming reactions have been investigated from a modelling view point considering the effect of different temperatures ranging from 500℃ and 977℃ on the conversion of methane and hydrogen yield. Simulation results show that the steam reforming of methane in a fixed-bed reactor can efficiently store high temperature end thermal energy. When the operating temperature is increased to 977℃, the conversion of methane is 97.48% and the hydrogen yield is 2.2408. As a conclusion, the maximum thermochemical efficiency will be obtained under optimal operating temperature (977℃) and the steam/methane (3.86) ratio.

Valorization of natural diatomite mineral:Application to removal of anionic dye from aqueous solution in a batch and fixed-bed reactor

In this work,the efficiency of an adsorption process,in which Moroccan diatomite(ND)is used as a low-cost adsorbent to remove Congo red(CR)dye from contaminated waters in batch and column system,was examined.The influence of experimental conditions(pH,adsorbent dose and temperature)on the adsorption of CR onto the ND adsorbent was studied.A study of the adsorption kinetics for CR revealed that a pseudo-second-order model provided the best fit to the experimental kinetic data,and the equilibrium data were well described by the Langmuir isotherm model with an adsorption capacity of 6.07 mg/g using 15 g/L of ND,pH=6,contact time 3 h and 25℃.On the other hand,the ND regeneration tests were investigated and showed that the desorption reaches at least 50%when using ethanol as eluent.In addition,the adsorption process in a continuous mode was studied.Breakthrough curves were properly represented by the Yoon—Nelson model.Hence,the adsorption capacity of 5.71 mg/g was reached using 0.114 g of adsorbent,CR concentration of 6 mg/L and a flow of 1 mL/min under 25℃.

On-Line Prediction of a Fixed-Bed Reactor Using K-L Expansion and Neural Networks

An on-line prediction scheme combining the Karhunen-Love expansion and a recurrent neural network for a wall-cooled fixed-bed reactor is presented.Benzene oxidation in a pilotscale,single tube fixed-bed reactor is chosen as a working system and a pseudo-homogeneous twodimensional model is used to generate simulation data to investigate the prediction scheme presentedunder randomly changing operating conditions.The scheme consisting of the K-L expansion andneural network performs satisfactorily for on-line prediction of reaction yield and bed temperatures.

Numerical investigation of complex chemistry performing in Ptcatalyzed oxidative dehydrogenation of ethane fixed-bed reactors

Ethylene is one of the most important basic chemicals in the modern chemical industry.Thermal or catalytic cracking of hydrocarbons is the main industrial technologies nowadays,which suffer from equilibriumlimitation and rapid coke formation.The oxidative dehydrogenation of ethane(ODHE)is considered to be a promising alternative process since it overcomes equilibrium-limitations,avoids catalyst deactivation by coke formation,and decreases the number of side reactions.In this study,particle-resolved 2 D CFD simulations of fixed-beds filled with eggshell catalysts coupled with micro-kinetics of Pt-catalyzed ODHE were performed to understand the effect of operation conditions and catalyst properties on ethylene selectivity.The catalyst bed was created by discrete element method(DEM)and the central longitudinal section of the reactor tube was defined as the 2 D simulation region.Both of the homogeneous and catalytic heterogeneous chemical reactions were described by detailed micro-kinetics within the particle-resolved CFD simulation.At first,the established model of monolith reactors was verified by comparing the simulated results with experimental results reported in literature.Then,the effects of operation conditions and catalyst concentration on the ethylene selectivity in randomly packed beds were explored.The specific variation of certain operation conditions including inlet flow rate,inlet temperature,pressure,inlet C2 H6/O2 ratio and N2 dilution ratio can effectively increase ethylene selectivity.And the reduction of ratio of catalytic active area to geometric area Fcat/georepresenting catalyst properties from 140 to 30 increases the selectivity from 42.2%to 59.3%.This research can provide reference for the industrialization of ODHE process in the future.

Experimental and numerical studies of Ca(OH)_(2)/CaO dehydration process in a fixed-bed reactor for thermochemical energy storage

The Ca(OH)_(2)/CaO thermochemical energy storage(TCES)system based on calcium looping has received extensive attention owing to its high energy storage density,prolonged energy storage time,and environmental friendliness.The heat storage process of the Ca(OH)_(2)/CaO TCES system in a mixed heating reactor was evaluated in this study,by employing a combination of direct and indirect heating modes.The dehydration process was studied experimentally,and a numerical model was established and verified based on the experimental results.The dehydration behavior of 500 g of Ca(OH)_(2) powder was investigated in a fixed-bed reactor with mixed heating.The experimental and simulation results indicated that mixed heating causes combined centripetal and horizontal propulsion.Heat input is the main limiting factor in the heat storage process,because the radial advance of the reaction is hindered by the low thermal conductivity of the solid reactant particles.Heat transmission partitions were added to enhance the performance of the reactor.The performance of the modified reactor was compared with that of a conventional reactor.The radial heat transmission partitions in the modified reactor effectively enhance the energy storage rate and reduce the reaction time by 59.5%compared with the reactor without partitions.

Modeling-based optimization of a fixed-bed industrial reactor for oxidative dehydrogenation of propane

An industrial scale propylene production via oxidative dehydrogenation of propane （ODHP） in multi-tubular re- actors was modeled. Multi-tubular fixed-bed reactor used for ODHP process, employing 10000 of small diameter tubes immersed in a shell through a proper coolant flows. Herein, a theory-based pseudo-homogeneous model to describe the operation of a fixed bed reactor for the ODHP to correspondence olefln over V2O5/γ-Al203 catalyst was presented. Steady state one dimensional model has been developed to identify the operation parameters and to describe the propane and oxygen conversions, gas process and coolant temperatures, as well as other pa- rameters affecting the reactor performance such as pressure. Furthermore, the applied model showed that a double-bed multitubular reactor with intermediate air injection scheme was superior to a single-bed design due to the increasing of propylene selectivity while operating under lower oxygen partial pressures resulting in propane conversion of about 37.3%. The optimized length of the reactor needed to reach 100% conversion of the oxygen was theoretically determined. For the single-bed reactor the optimized length of 11.96 m including 0.5 m of inert section at the entrance region and for the double-bed reactor design the optimized lengths of 5.72 m for the first and 7.32 m for the second reactor were calculated. Ultimately, the use of a distributed oxygen feed with limited number of injection points indicated a significant improvement on the reactor performance in terms of propane conversion and propylene selectivity. Besides, this concept could overcome the reactor run- away temperature problem and enabled operations at the wider range of conditions to obtain enhanced propyl- ene production in an industrial scale reactor.

Deactivation and regeneration of TS-1/SiO2 catalyst for epoxidation of propylene with hydrogen peroxide in a fixed-bed reactor

TS-1/SiO2 catalyst for the epoxidation of propylene with hydrogen peroxide in a fixed-bed reactor has been investigated. The catalyst activity decreases gradually with the online reaction time, but the selectivity of propylene epoxide is kept at about 93%. The fresh, deactivated and regenerated catalysts were characterized with X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectro- scopy, ultra-violet-visible diffuse reflectance, Brunner- Emmett-TeUer method and thermogravimetric analysis, and the deactivated catalyst was regenerated with H2O2/ methanol solution. Compared with the fresh catalyst, both the framework structure and the content of titanium in the framework of the deactivated and regenerated TS-1/SiO2 catalysts were not changed. The major reason of the catalyst deactivation was the blockage of the channels of the catalyst by bulky organic by-products, which covered the active centers of titanium in TS-1. The deposited materials on the deactivated TS-1/SiO2 catalyst could be removed by treatment with hydrogen peroxide/methanol solution or pure methanol; the higher the treatment temperature and the higher the concentration of H2O2 in methanol, the higher the extent of the regeneration. The regeneration treatment did not influence the product selectivity in the propylene epoxidation.

Palladium nanoparticles supported on amine-functionalized glass fiber mat for fixed-bed reactors on the effective removal of hexavalent chromium by catalytic reduction

Palladium nanoparticles were deposited on the amine-grafted glass fiber mat （GFM-NH2） catalyst support by a conventional impregnation process followed by the borohydride reduction in aqueous solution at room temperature to create the designed Pd/GFM-NH2 catalyst. By the use of large size glass fiber mat without nano/mesopores as the catalyst support, the internal mass transfer limitations due to the existence of nano/mesopores on the catalyst support were eliminated and the Pd/GFM-NH2 catalyst could be easily separated from treated water due to the large size of the catalyst support. Batch experiments demonstrate its good catalytic reduction performance of Cr（VI） with formic acid as the reducing agent. It also demonstrated an efficient Cr（VI） removal and stability in a lab-prepared, packed fixed-bed tube reactor for the continuous treatment of Cr（VI）-containing water. Thus, it has a good potential for the catalytic reduction of Cr（VI） in the water treatment practice.

Reduction Kinetics of Fe-based Oxygen Carriers Using Syngas in a Honeycomb Fixed-Bed Reactor for Chemical-Looping Combustion

Chemical-looping combustion(CLC)is considered to be a vital method for utilizing hydrocarbon fuel with low carbon emissions.A honeycomb fixed-bed reactor is a new kind of reactor for CLC.However,the further application of the reactor is limited by the inadequacy of the kinetic equations for CLC.In this paper,the experimental studies on the kinetic of Fe-based oxygen carriers were carried out by the CLC experiments using syngas which was obtained from one typical type of coal gasification products.The experimental results show that there were two individual stages for the kinetic characteristics during the fuel reaction process.Therefore,the CLC fuel reaction process could be described by a two-stage unreacted-core shrinking model and the reaction rate equations for each of the two phases were provided.In both stages,the dominant resistances were analyzed.The activation energy and the reaction order in both stages were calculated respectively as well.Comparing the experimental results of reaction rate with the calculated results of the obtained rate equations,it could be clearly seen that the reaction kinetics model was appropriate for the CLC in the honeycomb reactor.This work is expected to provide a guideline for the future development and industrial design of the honeycomb CLC reactors from the perspective of kinetics.

Simulation of fixed-bed adsorption process considering particle size distribution

The distribution of adsorbent particle sizes typically has a significant impact on adsorption performance.Most fixed-bed adsorption studies adopt the assumption of average particle size to simplify the adsorption model,but this does not eliminate the deviation between experiments and simulations caused by particle size distribution in practice.In this study,the population balance equation(PBE)and fixed-bed adsorption kinetics model were combined to simulate the adsorption process in a fixed-bed reactor,modeling the distribution of adsorbate uptake over time on adsorbent particles of different sizes.We integrated and optimized the PBE and fixed-bed mass transfer model in the algorithm,and the resulting combined model adopts a variable time step size,which can achieve a balance between computational efficiency and error while ensuring computational convergence.By slicing the model in the spatial dimension,multiple sets of PBE can be calculated in parallel,improving computational efficiency.The adsorption process of single-component and multi-component CO_(2)/CH_(4)/N_(2)on 4A zeolite without binder was simulated,and the influence of adsorbent particle size distribution was analyzed.Simulation results show that the assumption of average adsorbent particle size,which was commonly made in published work,will underestimate the time required for adsorbates to break through the fixed bed compared with the assumption of uniform adsorbent particle size.This model helps to consider the impact of adsorbent particle size distribution on the adsorption process,thereby improving the prediction accuracy of adsorbent performance.

CFD modeling using heterogeneous reaction kinetics for catalytic dehydrogenation syngas reactions in a fixed-bed reactor

A comprehensive 2D computational fluid dynamics （CFD） model was developed to simulate the flow behavior and catalytic dehydrogenation reaction of syngas in a heterogenous fixed-bed reactor （FBR）. The model combined the porous medium CFD model with a reaction kinetics model. To acquire an accu- rate reaction kinetics model, a comprehensive reaction mechanism was studied for the heterogeneous catalytic dehydrogenation reaction ofsyngas over a supported metal catalyst. Based on the reaction mech- anism and a statistical test, a reliable kinetics model was proposed. The CFD model combined with the above kinetics model was validated with one set of experimental data. The CFD model was also used to predict key reaction variable distributions such as the temperature and the component concentrations in the reactor.

Effect of hydrogen combustion reaction on the dehydrogenation of ethane in a fixed-bed catalytic membrane reactor

A two-dimensional non-isothermal mathematical model has been developed for the ethane dehydrogenation reaction in a fixed-bed catalytic membrane reactor. Since ethane dehydrogenation is an equilibrium reaction,removal of produced hydrogen by the membrane shifts the thermodynamic equilibrium to ethylene production.For further displacement of the dehydrogenation reaction, oxidative dehydrogenation method has been used.Since ethane dehydrogenation is an endothermic reaction, the energy produced by the oxidative dehydrogenation method is consumed by the dehydrogenation reaction. The results show that the oxidative dehydrogenation method generated a substantial improvement in the reactor performance in terms of high conversions and signi ficant energy saving. It was also established that the sweep gas velocity in the shell side of the reactor is one of the most important factors in the effectiveness of the reactor.

Improving the Performance of Fixed-Bed Catalytic Reactors by Innovative Catalyst Distribution

A comprehensive mathematical model is developed to simulate the interactions of the complex processes that take place in typical catalytic chemical reactors. This mathematical model includes correlations representing various modes of mass transport and chemical reactions. To illustrate the application and value of this approach for reactor optimizations, the model is applied to the case of series reactions with a desirable intermediate compound and the risk of degradation of this compound if the process conditions are not optimized. The modeling results show that in such cases, which are very common in practice, replacing the conventional uniform catalyst distribution with a novel non-uniform distribution will significantly improve the performance of the reactor and the production of the desirable compound. Various catalyst distribution options are compared, and a novel non-uniform loading of catalyst is identified that gives a much better performance compared to the conventional approach. The model is versatile and useful for both the design as well as the optimization of the catalytic fixed-bed reactors in a wide variety of reactor and reaction conditions.

Suiting Dynamic Models of Fixed-Bed Catalytic Reactors for Computer-Based Applications

This work investigated the applicability of heterogeneous and pseudo-homogeneous models to predict the dynamic behavior of a fixed-bed catalytic reactor. Some issues concerning the dynamic behavior of the system were discussed, such as the prediction of the inverse response phenomenon. The proposed models (Het- erogeneous I and II and Pseudo-homogeneous) were able to predict with qualitative similarity the main characteristics of the dynamic behavior of a fixed-bed catalytic reactor, including the inverse response. The computational time demanded for the solution of the heterogeneous models was 10 to 50% longer than in the case of the pseudo-homogeneous model, making the use of the former suitable for applications where computational time is not the major restriction (off-line applications). On the other hand, when on-line applications are required, the simplified model (Pseudo-homogeneous model) showed to be a good alternative because this model was able to predict (qualitatively) the dynamics of the reactor using a faster and easier numerical solution.