Oxidative dehydrogenation of butane in an interconnected fluidized‐bed reactor

Abstract

The use of an internal circulating fluidized bed (ICFB) is proposed for the oxidative dehydrogenation of butane. The reactor consists of two adjacent zones

Modeling of fluidized bed reactors with two reaction zones

“…The hydrocarbon is thus distributed proportionally between the bubble and the emulsion phases (this assumption provided a better fit to the experimental results than assuming that the hydrocarbon forms only new bubbles). This was also assumed in the model previously developed by our group 12 and is a suitable assumption when the reaction is not very fast. 19 Therefore, in order to describe both models, their various parts (gas and solid flow) will be discussed in some detail, and the resulting equations shown later.…”

“…This model is based on that previously developed 15 for a TZFBR, to which several improvements were added in the model presented later 12 for the simulation of an ICFBR. The main difference between the reactors is that in the TZFBR the flow of solid between both reaction zones (the solid interchange between zones) is produced only by the transport in the wake of the bubbles and the subsequent drop of solid in the emulsion phase.…”

“…The solid transport between beds is modeled according to the results from a previous fluid dynamic study using a cold model. 12 The fluid dynamic model considered includes the existence of three different zones: bubble, wake, and emulsion. 18 The solid in the wake is raised with the bubble.…”

“…These new reactors have been satisfactorily tested for the oxidative coupling of methane, 10 the oxidative dehydrogenation of n-butane, 11,12 the catalytic dehydrogenation of n-butane 13 and propane, 1 and the n-butane partial oxidation to maleic anhydride. 2 A detailed review of the use of the TZFBR and the ICFBR has been recently published.…”

“…2 A detailed review of the use of the TZFBR and the ICFBR has been recently published. 14 The main objective of the present work is the improvement and further development of a mathematical model previously proposed 12,15 for simulating the behavior of the fluidized bed reactors described above, with the aim of understanding the system as well as predicting the effect of the main related variables. Two reactions not considered in the previous simulation studies have been chosen, propane dehydrogenation as representative of a catalytic dehydrogenation and n-butane oxidation to maleic anhydride as representative of a partial oxidation, in order to generalize the behavior of the reactors independent of the reaction carried out inside them.…”