Parametric sensitivity in fixed-bed reactors

Abstract

Parametric sensitivity in fixed-bed reactors has been analysed by previous workers using the quasihomogeneous model [i.e. for the kinetic regime only]. In the present paper a general treatment is proposed in which transport limitations are also considered. It is shown that the critical inlet partial pressure is strongly dependent on the transport processes. Based on the analysis presented, four regimes of fixed-bed reactor operation are postulated and conditions are stated to identify the regime in which a given system would operate. These conditions are applied to some industrially important reactions to show that the regimes represent realistic systems. Procedures are developed to obtain the critical inlet partial pressure for systems lying in the various postulated regimes. Illustrative examples are then solved to demonstrate the procedures developed in the text. The correctness of the procedures is established by comparing the values of the critical inlet partial pressure obtained from the present analysis with those obtained from numerical solution.