Mass Transfer Comparison Between Mechanically Agitated Slurry Reactor and Liquid Entrained Reactor in the Methanol Synthesis Process
Abstract
The commercial reactor proposed for the liquid phase methanol synthesis process (LPMeCHTM) is a liquid entrained reactor (LER), since it possesses several operational advantages over a mechanically agitated slurry reactor (MASR). This paper discusses in detail the develocment of a correlation for the prediction of the overall gas-liquid mass transfer coefficient (KLiaB) in a LER. The overall mass transfer coefficient experimentally determined for the LER, is compared with the corresponding value obtained for the MASR under nominally identical operating conditions. It was observed that the overall gas-liquid mass transfer coefficient and hence the overall rate of methanol production per unit mass of catalyst, is significantly higher in the LER compared to the MASR at identical operating conditions. In the LER mode, the limitation posed on the system by chemical equilibrium, is alleviated by selective renewal of products thus making the process ideal for the once-through methanol (CIM) This justifies the proposed commercial mode of synthesis of methanol in the liquid entrained reactor.
Recommended Citation
P. Vijayaraghavan et al., "Mass Transfer Comparison Between Mechanically Agitated Slurry Reactor and Liquid Entrained Reactor in the Methanol Synthesis Process," Fuel Science and Technology International, Taylor & Francis, Jan 1993.
The definitive version is available at https://doi.org/10.1080/08843759308916148
Department(s)
Chemical and Biochemical Engineering
Document Type
Article - Journal
Document Version
Citation
File Type
text
Language(s)
English
Rights
© 1993 Taylor & Francis, All rights reserved.
Publication Date
01 Jan 1993
