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Choice of Reactor III Reactor Conguration These reactions can be reversed in a stripping column. The input of heat in the stripping column releases the hydrogen sulde and carbon dioxide for further processing. The monoethanolamine can then be recycled. 5. Moving-bed catalytic reactors. If a solid catalyst degrades in performance, the rate of degradation in a xed bed might be unacceptable. In this case, a moving-bed reactor can be used. Here, the catalyst is kept in motion by the feed to the reactor and the product. This makes it possible to remove the catalyst continuously for regeneration. An example of a renery hydrocracker reactor is illustrated in Figure 7.7a. 6. Fluidized-bed catalytic reactors. In uidized-bed reactors, solid material in the form of ne particles is held in suspension by the upward ow of the reacting uid. The effect of the rapid motion of the particles is good heat transfer and temperature uniformity. This prevents the formation of the hot spots that can occur with xed-bed reactors. The performance of uidized-bed reactors is not approximated by either the mixed-ow or plug-ow idealized models. The solid phase tends to be in mixed-ow, but the bubbles lead to the gas phase behaving more like plugow. Overall, the performance of a uidized-bed reactor often lies somewhere between the mixed-ow and plugow models. In addition to the advantage of high heat transfer rates, uidized beds are also useful in situations where catalyst particles need frequent regeneration. Under these circumstances, particles can be removed continuously from the reactor bed, regenerated and recycled back to the bed. In exothermic reactions, the recycling of catalyst can be used to remove heat from the reactor, or in endothermic reactions, it can be used to add heat. One disadvantage of uidized beds, as discussed previously, is that attrition of the catalyst can cause the generation of catalyst nes, which are then carried over from the bed and lost from the system. This carryover of catalyst nes sometimes necessitates cooling the reactor efuent through direct contact heat transfer by mixing with a cold uid, since the nes tend to foul conventional heat exchangers. Figure 7.7b shows the essential features of a renery catalytic cracker. Large molar mass hydrocarbon molecules are made to crack into smaller hydrocarbon molecules in the presence of a solid catalyst. The liquid hydrocarbon feed is atomized as it enters the catalytic cracking reactor and is mixed with the catalyst particles being carried by a ow of steam or light hydrocarbon gas. The mixture is carried up the riser and the reaction is essentially complete at the top of the riser. However, the reaction is accompanied by the deposition of carbon (coke) on the surface of the catalyst. The catalyst is separated from the gaseous products at the top of the reactor. The gaseous products leave the reactor

close to steady state. However, if frequent regeneration is required, then xed beds are not suitable, and under these circumstances, a moving bed or a uidized bed is preferred, as will be discussed later. Gasliquid mixtures are sometimes reacted in catalytic packed beds. Different contacting methods for gasliquid reactions have been discussed in Section 7.3. 4. Fixed-bed noncatalytic reactors. Fixed-bed noncatalytic reactors can be used to react a gas and a solid. For example, hydrogen sulde can be removed from fuel gases by reaction with ferric oxide: Fe2 O3 + 3H2 S hydrogen sulde ferricoxide Fe2 S3 + 3H2 O ferricsulde

The ferric oxide is regenerated using air: 2Fe2 S3 + 3O2 2Fe2 O3 + 6S Two xed-bed reactors can be used in parallel, one reacting and the other regenerating. However, there are many disadvantages in carrying out this type of reaction in a packed bed. The operation is not under steady state conditions, and this can present control problems. Eventually, the bed must be taken off line to replace the solid. Fluidized beds (to be discussed later) are usually preferred for gassolid noncatalytic reactions. Fixed-bed reactors in the form of gas absorption equipment are used commonly for noncatalytic gasliquid reactions. Here, the packed bed serves only to give good contact between the gas and liquid. Both cocurrent and countercurrent operation are used. Countercurrent operation gives the highest reaction rates. Cocurrent operation is preferred if a short liquid residence time is required or if the gas owrate is so high that countercurrent operation is difcult. For example, hydrogen sulde and carbon dioxide can be removed from natural gas by reaction with monoethanolamine in an absorber, according to the following reactions6 HOCH2 CH2 NH2 + H2 S hydrogen monoethanolamine sulde HOCH2 CH2 NH3 HS monoethanolamine hydrogen sulde HOCH2 CH2 NH2 + CO2 + H2 O monoethanolamine carbon dioxide HOCH2 CH2 NH3 HCO3 monoethanolamine hydrogen carbonate