Thermally Balanced Reactor (TBR) Technology: A Novel Reactor Design to Eliminate Hot Spot Temperatures in Exothermic Processes

摘要

Hot spot temperatures are universally formed in many gas phase, heterogeneously catalyzed exothermic processes employing fixed-bed reactors. They are a major culprit for underperformance of these processes and include reduced catalyst performance, accelerated catalyst aging, limited catalyst and reactor train productivity, and elevated occurrence of reactor runaway and instability. Although a number of innovative techniques have been developed and are being practiced commercially to manage and control the extent of hot spots in industrial processes, none have been entirely successful in effectively eliminating their formation. As a result, the full potential of these processes is not realized due to the limitations imposed by hot spot consideration.