A Study on the Capacity of Reactive Distillation Bale Packings:  Experimental Measurements, Evaluation of the Existing Models, and Preparation of a New Model

Abstract

The bale packings that are used as catalyst containing packings in reactive distillation columns are made and geometrically characterized. Pressure drop and holdup values are measured in a 10.4 cm i.d. glass column packed with bales using an air/water system. The arrangement of the bales in the bed is similar to that of industrial columns. The obtained data are used for evaluating the Stichlmair and the Eckert pressure drop models. Neither of these two models could fit the data properly. When a slight modification is made in the Eckert model, a specific model which fits the data well is prepared. This model also accounts for the effect of geometrical characteristics of the packed bed on pressure drop. It is then evaluated using the experimental data of Subawalla and co-workers on a nonreactive binary distillation system in which the bale geometry and the bale arrangement in the test column is different from that of the present work. A good agreement between their data and the new model is observed at low to moderate F factor values. The deviation from the data at higher F factors is also discussed.

Flowdynamic Modeling of Bale‐Type Catalytic Distillation Packings

“…Those three Caetano, González, and Solari 858 Xu et al [4] Flowdynamic Modeling of Bale-Type Catalytic Packings 859 ORDER REPRINTS models are the Stichlmair et al [3] model, which is based on the assumption of flow around particles inside the column (particle model); the Billet [11] model, which is based on the so-called channel model; and the Engel et al [12] model, which is a further improvement of the original Stichlmair et al model. The bale-packing models of Xu et al [4] and of Akbarnejad et al [5] were not included in this comparison since they were developed for very limited conditions and previous work [6 -8] shows that their predictions do not properly represent real data obtained under a wide variety of conditions, such as that indicated in Table 1. Detailed descriptions of the models evaluated in this work can be found in the original publications.…”

“…Those correlations show that pressure drop and liquid hold-up are only a function of liquid and gas velocities and do not take into account fluids, packing, and catalyst properties, which limit the application to the specific conditions for which they were developed. Akbarnejad et al [5] modified the well-known Eckert diagrams for prediction of pressure drop in catalytic distillation columns loaded with bales and validated their model with data obtained in a cold simulator. This model does not predict liquid hold-up, which is an important parameter for columns with chemical reaction, and it is actually believed that today there are more accurate ways of predicting pressure drop than methods based on the Eckert diagram.…”

Hydraulic performance of Winpak‐C modular catalytic structured packing

“…Catalyst particles are commonly embedded in wire gauze envelopes. Two primary factors must be considered for the design of catalytic packing: (a) sufficient contact between the liquid phase and the solid catalyst with adequate residence time, and (b) efficient separation by distillation with a high capacity or low pressure drop.…”

Evaluation of Transfer Resistances in the Reactive Distillation Process for Phenol Production

“…Taylor and Krishna reviewed many different types of catalytic packings, 6 for example, the catalytic packings with a sandwich structure and the catalytic bale licensed by Chemical Research and Licensing. 17 Typical representatives of the former include the commercial MULTIPAK, KATAPAK-S, and KATAMAX. Another alternative is to make the packing itself catalytically active.…”

“…On the other hand, the selection of the catalytic packing is very important for the RD rigorous design, − and it could be helpful to simultaneously improve the reaction conversion and the degrees of separation of an RD process. Taylor and Krishna reviewed many different types of catalytic packings, for example, the catalytic packings with a sandwich structure and the catalytic bale licensed by Chemical Research and Licensing . Typical representatives of the former include the commercial MULTIPAK, KATAPAK-S, and KATAMAX.…”