Optimising Configurations for Enhanced Performance in Adsorptive Reactors
A number of industrially important reactors are limited by equilibrium conversion of reactants. An important recent innovation is to combine the reaction and separation steps in a single unit operation known as reactive separation or integrated reactive separation. This combination has been recognized as having favourable economics and an important means for implementing process intensification. This work focuses on optimising the configurations in adsorptive reactors. Fixed bed columns containing solid catalysts and adsorbents were employed for simultaneous reaction and separation. The distribution of catalyst and adsorbent solids inside a fixed-bed inside a reactor were investigated with pressure swing separation. A catalyst layer followed by an adsorbent layer was first tested and validated. In arrangements with layers of catalysts and adsorbents, the pressure reaction columns behaved as reactor/separators in series. As the number of layers increased, an almost homogeneous distribution of catalyst and adsorbent was attained. Improved reactor performance was observed with pressure swing separation system and with close to well-mixed configurations.