Exam Multiphase Reactors 6PE20

Date: October 26th, 2009

Time: 14:00 17:00
There are three assignments.
Each assignment has a maximum of 3 points, you get 1 point for free. Points per subpart
of the assignments are indicated.
You are allowed to use a calculator and pen/pencil only.
Write your name and student ID on every paper you hand in.
No talking, for questions raise your hand.
Switch off your mobile phone(s).
At 17:00 papers should be handed in. Please leave the room in a quiet and ordered
fashion. Some students are allowed to continue to work on the exam.
Success!

1. Reactor selection and reactor concepts (3 points)

I. Answer the following questions briefly (less than 50 words for each answer):
a. What is flooding ?
b. What is wetting ?
c. Which G-L-S reactor is most suitable for highly exothermal reactions ?
(motivate).
d. Which G-L-S reactor is most common for very slow catalytic reactions ?
(motivate)
e. Which G-L-S reactor is most common for a fast deactivating catalyst ? (motivate)
f. What does Scale-out of microreactors mean ?
(0.25 points each)

II. Consider the following reactors / catalysts:

1. 100 m diameter spherical catalyst for a slurry bubble column
2. 3 mm diameter spherical particle for trickle bed (50 m eggshell type)
3. 400 cpsi (1 mm channel diameter) monolithic catalyst with 75 m washcoat.
Motivate the answers to the questions in less than 100 words each.
a. Rank the reactors / catalyst in order for the highest catalyst efficiency for a
reaction which is effected by internal mass transfer limitations.
b. Rank the reactors for the highest possible selectivity for the desired product for a
reactor designed optimally for the highest product (B) yield for a reaction A -> B
(first order in A) with the undesired sequential reaction B -> C (first order in B).
In this case, neglect the internal mass transfer.
c. Rank the same reactors for the fastest gas-catalyst mass transfer rates for a G-L-S
application.
(0.5 points each)

2. Fluidized Beds (3 points)

Consider a fluidized bed combustor (dR = 8 m) operated in the bubbling fluidization
regime. In the fluidized bed 60 tons (1 ton =1000 kg) of sand particles (dpS = 0.3 mm) are
present. In steady state conditions 1250 kg of spherical carbon particles (dpC = 0.5 mm)
are present in the bed. The carbon particles are burnt at T = 1000 K and p = 1.5 bar with
oxygen from air according to the following reaction:
O2 (g) + C (s)

CO2 (g)

The heat of reaction Hr is -394 kJ per mole of CO2 formed.

The volumetric flow of air is 10 m3/s at T = 273 K and p = 1 bar. The volumetric change
in the gas phase by the reaction is negligible. The sand particles are inert and are only
present to buffer the heat and to efficiently transport the heat to the heat exchange tubes
in the bed. Assume that the ideal gas law applies (Rg = 8.314 J/mol/K).
The reaction rate at the surface of a solid carbon particle is given by:
rA

k r C O2g

molC msurface

2 1

With the reaction rate constant kr = 100 molC mg3 /(molO2 msurface2 s)
a) Explain in less than 100 words (>100 words=no points!) the physical background of
fluidization. (If you are not proficient enough in English you may explain in Dutch). (0.1
points)
b) The fluidization behavior is determined by the sand particles. Determine the Geldart
classification of the sand particles. (0.1 points)
c) Calculate the gas bubble fraction. Assume that the bed expands with a factor 1.33 and
validate this assumption. Assume that the added carbon particles are well mixed in the
bed and behave as though they were sand particles. (0.2 points)
Assume that the gas bubble phase is ideally stirred and that the particle emulsion phase is
ideally stirred.
d) Set up a mole balance for oxygen in the gas bubble phase, the emulsion phase and the
particle interface for a steady state situation. (0.8 points)
e) Determine the rate determining step in the mole balances. Calculate the conversion of
oxygen if the carbon particles do not shrink due to reaction. What are the concentrations
of oxygen in the bubble phase, the emulsion phase and the solid surface? (0.5 points)
Of course, the carbon particles will shrink due to the reaction. This can be modeled with a
shrinking core model.

f) Derive how the particle radius decreases with time. Assume steady state values for the
gas phase concentrations. Note: the mass transfer is a function of carbon particle
diameter! (0.8 points)
g) Calculate the time for full conversion of a carbon particle, given the concentration in
the emulsion phase from e). (0.3 points)
h) How large should the carbon particle flow be in kg/hour, if the fluidized bed is used
under the given steady state conditions? How many MW is produced thermally in this
combustor? (0.2 points)
Additional data, correlations, and equations:
Sand density S = 2300 kg/m3
Carbon density C = 900 kg/m3
Atomic mass carbon MC = 12 kg/kmol
Gas fraction at minimum fluidization mf = 0.42
Gas viscosity g = 10-5 Pa s
Gas diffusion coefficient Dg = 10-6 m2/s
Gas bubble diameter Geldart A and C particles is 1.5 cm. For B and D particles the
following equation holds (use h = 0.4 Hbed for calculating the average bubble diameter):
db u0 umf

0.5

h0.75 g 0.25 m

Mass transfer coefficient from gas bubbles to emulsion phase:

1

u 4D u 2
2
kq mf g b
[m 3gas m bubble
s 1 ]
3 db
Mass transfer coefficient from emulsion gas to particle surface:
1
1
k d
u d
g
Sh E p 2 1.8 Re p2 Sc 3 , Re p g mf p , Sc
Dg
g
g Dg
Note: the Sherwood and Reynolds number are based on the carbon particle diameter but
the Reynolds number is calculated with the umf of the sand particles!
u0 umf
0.5
.
ub 0.71 gd b , ub u0 umf ub , b
ub
The Geldart particle classification boundaries are:
1.275

g
ArAC 1.2, ArAB 1.03 10
, ArBD 1.25 105

g
p
The minimum fluidization velocity can be calculated with the correlation of Wen & Yu:
6

 Re (33.7 2 0.0408 Ar ) 1 2 33.7 or from the Grace diagram (figure below) with
mf

dp

g s g g

dp
2

g 2

Ar 3 , u * u
s g g
1

Re p
Ar

3. "Wallis drift flux" (3 points)

Solid catalyst particles (S = 7600 kg mS-3) are added with s = 0.5 kg/s to the top of an
ideal plug flow reactor (diameter dR = 0.2 m, height hR = 2 m) in which liquid (L = 700
kg mL-3, L = 1.2 10-3 Pa s) flows upward with L= 0.5 l/s. Component A is dissolved in
the liquid (inlet concentration CA,in = 10 kmol/m3). The particles are spherical and have a
diameter dp = 0.2 mm.
a) Use the Richardson and Zaki equation for the slip velocity. The Richardson and Zaki
equation multiplied by (1-d)d, is graphically shown in the added figure. What n should
have been used for the graph? (0.1 points)
b) The particles move downwards at these conditions. What is the volume fraction of the
particles in steady state? If you find two solutions, take the lowest volume fraction. (0.4
points)
The particles catalyze the following reaction
A --> B
The reaction takes place on the outside surface of the particle only. The reaction kinetics
are first order in A:
-rA = kR CA, with kR = 10-5 1/s.
c) Set up the mole balances for component A in the ideal plug flow reactor in steady
state. Derive a differential equation that describes the concentration of A (1.0 points).
d) Calculate the conversion of A (0.4 points).
[Take d as 0.05 if you could not solve b)]
Management wants to increase the production capacity of the unit. One of your
colleagues suggests to use the reactor as a homogeneous liquid-solid fluidized bed with a
higher solids volume fraction. The bed should contain a volume fraction of solids of 0.25
mS3/mR3. The homogeneous liquid-solid fluidized bed is mixed much more and is best
modeled as an ideally stirred tank reactor. You are asked to evaluate the idea.
e) Determine what the liquid flow is for this new configuration. (0.3 points)
f) Calculate the conversion of A for this situation. What is the increase in production
capacity? (0.8 points)
[Take a liquid flow equal to the liquid flow at plug flow conditions if you could not solve
e)]

Additional data, correlations, and equations:

Liquid phase diffusion coefficient DL = 1 10-9 m2 s-1.
Sh 2 0.6 Re p2 Sc
1

Re p

L v d p
k d

, Sc L , Sh LS p
DL
L
L DL

9
9

10
10

Re
18
1

v* * p

2
*

*
dp
1.74 d p
d

10

g
, d dp L S 2 L
L

*
p

Re p 0.2
n 4.65
0.2 Re p 1 n 4.35 Re p0.03
vs
n 1
1 d ,
Richardson and Zaki equation:
1 Re p 500 n 4.45 Rep0.1
v
500 Re p
n 2.39

Wallis drift flux equation: 1 d

vd
v
v
d c d 1 d s
v
v
v

Richardson & Zaki graph

0.5

0.45

0.4

0.35

d(1-d) vs/v

0.3

0.25

0.2

0.15

0.1

0.05

0
0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

-0.05

-0.1

0.6

0.7

0.8

0.9