IMPROVED REACTOR DESIGNS FOR HETEROGENEOUS CATALYTIC REACTIONS

摘要

A process comprising feeding reactant mixture to continuous flow fixed-bed tubular reactor, comprising a catalyst bed disposed therein, wherein a reactor wall inner surface and a catalyst bed outer surface define an annular space; exothermically reacting reactant mixture in catalyst bed via heterogeneous catalytic reaction to produce product mixture comprising reaction products; and recovering at least one reaction product from product mixture; wherein catalyst bed comprises bed inlet and outlet, first intermediate bed zone, and second intermediate bed zone downflow of first intermediate bed zone; wherein first and second intermediate bed zones are disposed between bed inlet and outlet; wherein first intermediate bed cross sectional area increases in the direction of flow; wherein second intermediate bed cross sectional area decreases in the direction of flow; and wherein the first and second intermediate bed cross sectional areas are greater than bed inlet surface area and/or bed outlet surface area.