Engineering Development of Slurry Bubble Column Reactor (Sbcr) Technology

Abstract

Project ObjectivesThe major technical objectives of this program are threefold: 1) to develop the design tools and a fundamental understanding of the fluid dynamics of a slurry bubble column reactor to maximize reactor productivity, 2) to develop the mathematical reactor design models and gain an understanding of the hydrodynamic fundamentals under industrially relevant process conditions, and 3) to develop an understanding of the hydrodynamics and their interaction with the chemistries occurring in the bubble column reactor. Successful completion of these objectives will permit more efficient usage of the reactor column and tighter design criteria, increase overall reactor efficiency, and ensure a design that leads to stable reactor behavior when scaling up to large diameter reactors. AbstractThis report summarizes the results of a Department of Energy-funded study on slurry bubble column reactors (SBCR). Alternate fuels projects need high reactor throughput for competitive economics so that reactors must operate in the churn-turbulent region of flow. Little data in this flow regime, especially at the conditions of high pressure and temperature for organic fluids found in an industrial reactor, existed at the inception of this project. This report summarizes the large body of fundamental data that was developed on these flows. It covers both the local liquid turbulence and large-scale liquid internal circulation aspects of flow in the SBCR. Where understood, the underlying mechanisms, which result in the macro-scale phenomena, are elucidated and modeled. Finally, new models for reactor design are also presented. Executive SummaryThe state of the art in design and modeling of bubble columns before the initiation of this project relied solely on the use of ideal flow patterns (e.g., perfectly mixed liquid and plug flow of gas) or on the use of the axial dispersion model (ADM). The use of ideal flow patterns can lead to serious over design, and the uncertainty in the values of the axial dispersion coefficients precludes a more accurate design based on the ADM. Since these models represent crude descriptions of the flow pattern in bubble columns and do not account for input from the fluid dynamics of the system, the scaleup of SCBR has been uncertain.The need for rapid scaleup and optimal commercialization for gas conversion processes necessitated an improved understanding and quantification of fluid dynamics and transport in slurry bubble column reactors. This report presents the results of an extensive experimental and theoretical program on SBCR.This program was conducted by a team comprising Air Products (APCI), Washington University in St. Louis (WU), The Ohio State University (OSU), Iowa State University (ISU) and Sandia National Laboratory (SNL). SNL participated as an active team member, but was supported by separate DOE funds; therefore, SNL's work will not be reported here.Bubble columns are complex. The complexity can be simplified in breaking up the phenomena occurring in bubble columns according to sc...