Experimental and modeling studies using packed bed reactors: Liquid phase ethylene production by hydrogenation of acetylene

<p>"Gas-phase catalytic hydrogenation of acetylene to produce ethylene, commonly practiced in industries, has green oil formation, which leads to catalyst deactivation and sometimes reactor runaway risks due to high exothermicity. To overcome these issues as well as to increase the selectivity and conversion, liquid-phase hydrogenation of acetylene was investigated in packed bed reactors (PBR) using a commercial catalyst. The reactor performance of two-phase flow PBRs was assessed experimentally complemented by a validated mathematical model at different scales.</p><p>The selective hydrogenation of acetylene in the liquid phase over a commercial 0.5 wt% Pd/Al₂O₃ catalyst was investigated in a slurry and basket stirred-tank reactor to extract the intrinsic and apparent kinetics respectively, and in packed bed reactors in trickle flow and upflow at selected operating conditions to study the reactor performance. The selective solvent, N-methyl pyrrolidone (NMP) with absorbed acetylene, was used as the liquid phase. Rate equation models were derived and fit to the experimental data to estimate the kinetic parameters. Using Residence Time Distribution (RTD) experiments at scaled-down operating conditions for different catalyst bed packings and types of reactors (with and without thermowell), the axial dispersion coefficient and dynamic liquid holdup were measured and correlated. The reactor performance was evaluated in the packed bed with the downflow and upflow of the reactants. Both the mode resulted in high conversion and ethylene selectivity while upflow performed better. The reactor scale model, integrating the kinetics and the hydrodynamic parameters along with the wetting and mass transfer correlations, was able to simulate the experimental data with good agreement"--Abstract, page iv.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph. D. in Chemical Engineering

Grantor

Missouri University of Science and Technology

Author dc:creator

• Shariff, Humayun

• Trickle Bed Reactor
• Residence time distribution
• Axial dispersion
• Liquid holdup
• Liquid phase
• Acetylene hydrogenation
• selective solvent
• ethylene production
• Kinetics
• Packed bed reactors
• Chemical Engineering

Repository record dc:identifier

https://scholarsmine.mst.edu/doctoral_dissertations/2874

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholarsmine.mst.edu:doctoral_dissertations-3879