Comparison of Reactive Distillation Packings Used for 1-Butene Isomerization

Abstract

The reactive distillation process of 1-butene isomerization is an important technique for utilizing abundant C4 hydrocarbons, and using proper reactive distillation packings is critical to the performance of this process. Herein, two typical packings are compared in terms of hydrodynamic properties and reaction-separation performance for 1butene isomerization. Compared to Katapak packing, the dynamic liquid holdup of Lummus packing is less sensitive to the change of liquid flow density and gas-phase kinetic energy factor, and its wet pressure drop is lower at high gas and liquid flow rates. These differences in hydrodynamic properties can be attributed to the higher void fraction and larger flow channels of Lummus packing and indicate that Lummus packing is better in operational flexibility. The simulations show that using Katapak in the reactive distillation column yields higher 1-butene conversion and 2butene purity in the product, indicating that Katapak is better in the reaction-separation performance. This can be attributed to the higher catalyst filling capacity and larger specific surface area of Katapak. These results should serve to guide the selection and design of reactive distillation packings for 1-butene isomerization.