Radial flow catalytic reactor including heat exchange apparatus within the bed
First Claim
1. In a reactor including an outer pressure vessel having an inlet passage for feeding gaseous feed materials into said pressure vessel and an outlet passage for discharging a product gas therefrom, a bed of a granular catalyst and means for flowing a reactant gas comprising the gaseous feed materials through said granular catalyst so that it reacts to form a product gas, means for cooling the product gas and preheating the gaseous feed materials, and means for cooling the reactant gas as the reactant gas passes through said catalyst bed, the improvement which comprises:
- said outer pressure vessel is upright and cylindrical, and comprises a bottom cover and a removable top cover;
said cooling and preheating means comprises a heat exchanger centrally mounted within said outer pressure vessel coaxially therewith, said heat exchanger comprising a substantially cylindrical outer shell, upper and lower partition plates subdividing the interior of said shell in the lengthwise direction thereof, a plurality of heat exchanger tubes extending from said upper partition plate to said lower partition plate, said heat exchanger tubes opening above said upper partition plate and opening below said lower partition plate, said partition plates being positioned so as to define a shell-side heat exchange compartment therebetween, an upper chamber above said upper partition plate and a lower chamber below said lower partition plate, said shell of said heat exchanger having openings at opposite end portions thereof so that a gas can enter said compartment near one end of said compartment and be discharged from the opening at the other end of said compartment, said inlet passage for the gaseous feed materials being in communication with said shell-side heat exchage compartment of said heat exchanger so that the gaseous feed materials undergo heat exchange and are thereby preheated before being fed to said catalyst bed;
said catalyst bed comprises spaced-apart inner and outer cylindrical gas-permeable catalyst retainers being positioned and arranged so as to define an intercylinder space therebetween coaxial with said outer pressure vessel and said heat exchanger, said inner catalyst retainer being of smaller diameter than said outer catalyst retainer, and a bottom wall extending beneath said catalyst retainers and fixedly connecting said catalyst retainers to each other, said catalyst retainers and said bottom wall being spaced apart from the inner periphery of said outer pressure vessel, said granular catalyst being packed in the intercylinder space between said inner and outer catalyst retainers above said bottom wall;
said cooling means comprises a cooling structure having a coolant inlet passage and a coolant outlet passage which both extend through said top cover of said outer pressure vessel, and a multiplicity of vertical cooling tubes which extend through said catalyst bed, said granular catalyst being packed around said cooling tubes, each of said cooling tubes being in communication with said coolant inlet passage and said coolant outlet passage so that a liquid coolant may be circulated through said cooling structure to absorb reaction heat generated in said catalyst bed;
a cylindrical, gas-impermeable, outer, partition wall coaxial with said outer pressure vessel and located between said outer pressure vessel and said outer gas-permeable catalyst retainer and spaced therefrom and positioned so as to define a first outer gas flow passageway between said outer pressure vessel and said cylindrical outer partition wall and a second inner gas flow passageway between said cylindrical outer partition wall and said outer catalyst retainer, whereby the product gas from said catalyst bed is discharged through said outer catalyst retainer into said second inner gas flow passageway, flows through said second inner flow passageway and thence into the tubes of said heat exchanger, undergoes heat exchange with the gaseous feed materials, in said heat exchanger, thereby cooling the product gas, and then is fed through said first outer gas flow passageway to said product gas outlet formed on said outer pressure vessel.
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Abstract
An improved reactor is disclosed wherein a high temperature product gas discharged from a catalyst bed within the reactor is cooled in a central heat exchanger installed within the reactor by heat exchange with a low temperature feed gas comprising gaseous raw materials for the reaction, and the product gas is thereafter flowed along the inner surface of an outer pressure vessel in order to maintain the outer pressure vessel at a low temperature. Inlet and outlet pipes for a coolant which coolant is circulated through a coolant passage structure which penetrates the catalyst bed in order to absorb the heat of reaction, both penetrate the top cover of the outer pressure vessel so that the coolant passage structure can be readily removed for maintenance and inspection, and the overall design of the reactor is simplified.
42 Citations
16 Claims
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1. In a reactor including an outer pressure vessel having an inlet passage for feeding gaseous feed materials into said pressure vessel and an outlet passage for discharging a product gas therefrom, a bed of a granular catalyst and means for flowing a reactant gas comprising the gaseous feed materials through said granular catalyst so that it reacts to form a product gas, means for cooling the product gas and preheating the gaseous feed materials, and means for cooling the reactant gas as the reactant gas passes through said catalyst bed, the improvement which comprises:
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said outer pressure vessel is upright and cylindrical, and comprises a bottom cover and a removable top cover; said cooling and preheating means comprises a heat exchanger centrally mounted within said outer pressure vessel coaxially therewith, said heat exchanger comprising a substantially cylindrical outer shell, upper and lower partition plates subdividing the interior of said shell in the lengthwise direction thereof, a plurality of heat exchanger tubes extending from said upper partition plate to said lower partition plate, said heat exchanger tubes opening above said upper partition plate and opening below said lower partition plate, said partition plates being positioned so as to define a shell-side heat exchange compartment therebetween, an upper chamber above said upper partition plate and a lower chamber below said lower partition plate, said shell of said heat exchanger having openings at opposite end portions thereof so that a gas can enter said compartment near one end of said compartment and be discharged from the opening at the other end of said compartment, said inlet passage for the gaseous feed materials being in communication with said shell-side heat exchage compartment of said heat exchanger so that the gaseous feed materials undergo heat exchange and are thereby preheated before being fed to said catalyst bed; said catalyst bed comprises spaced-apart inner and outer cylindrical gas-permeable catalyst retainers being positioned and arranged so as to define an intercylinder space therebetween coaxial with said outer pressure vessel and said heat exchanger, said inner catalyst retainer being of smaller diameter than said outer catalyst retainer, and a bottom wall extending beneath said catalyst retainers and fixedly connecting said catalyst retainers to each other, said catalyst retainers and said bottom wall being spaced apart from the inner periphery of said outer pressure vessel, said granular catalyst being packed in the intercylinder space between said inner and outer catalyst retainers above said bottom wall; said cooling means comprises a cooling structure having a coolant inlet passage and a coolant outlet passage which both extend through said top cover of said outer pressure vessel, and a multiplicity of vertical cooling tubes which extend through said catalyst bed, said granular catalyst being packed around said cooling tubes, each of said cooling tubes being in communication with said coolant inlet passage and said coolant outlet passage so that a liquid coolant may be circulated through said cooling structure to absorb reaction heat generated in said catalyst bed; a cylindrical, gas-impermeable, outer, partition wall coaxial with said outer pressure vessel and located between said outer pressure vessel and said outer gas-permeable catalyst retainer and spaced therefrom and positioned so as to define a first outer gas flow passageway between said outer pressure vessel and said cylindrical outer partition wall and a second inner gas flow passageway between said cylindrical outer partition wall and said outer catalyst retainer, whereby the product gas from said catalyst bed is discharged through said outer catalyst retainer into said second inner gas flow passageway, flows through said second inner flow passageway and thence into the tubes of said heat exchanger, undergoes heat exchange with the gaseous feed materials, in said heat exchanger, thereby cooling the product gas, and then is fed through said first outer gas flow passageway to said product gas outlet formed on said outer pressure vessel. - View Dependent Claims (16)
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2. A reactor for effecting a catalytic reaction wherein pressurized gaseous feed materials containing hydrogen contact a granular catalyst at an elevated temperature to form a high temperature reaction product gas, said reactor comprising:
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a cylindrical, vertical, outer, pressure vessel having a top cover, a bottom cover, an inlet for the gaseous feed materials and an outlet for the reaction product gas; a shell-and-tube heat exchanger centrally mounted within said outer pressure vessel and coaxial therewith, said heat exchager comprising a vertically mounted cylindrical outer shell, upper and lower partition plates inside said shell defining the upper and lower ends of a shell-side heat exchange compartment therein and also defining upper and lower chambers within said shell which upper and lower chambers do not communicate with said compartment and a plurality of heat exchange tubes which penetrate said partition plates and extend into and through said compartment but do not communicate therewith, said heat exchanger having a heat transfer area sufficient to preheat low temperature gaseous feed materials and to cool the high temperature reaction product gas to a temperature below 300°
C., by flowing the gaseous feed materials and the reaction product gas in indirect heat exchanging relationship in said heat exchanger;inner and outer, coaxial, cylindrical, gas-permeable, catalyst retainers, said catalyst retainers being mounted within said pressure vessel coaxially therewith and located between said shell of said heat exchanger and said pressure vessel, said inner and outer catalyst retainers positioned so as to define an annular intercylinder space; a bottom wall extending beneath said catalyst retainers and fixedly connecting said catalyst retainers to each other; granular catalyst bed means packed in said intercylinder space between said catalyst retainers above said bottom wall; first feed gas passage means for conducting the gaseous feed materials to said shell-side heat exchange compartment, and second feed gas passage means for introducing preheated gasous feed materials discharged from said shell-side heat exchange compartment of said heat exchanger into said catalyst bed means and flowing the preheated gaseous feed materials radially through said catalyst bed means; first reaction product gas passage means for conducting the high temperature reaction product gas discharged from said catalyst bed means to said heat exchange tubes of said heat exchanger for indirect heat exchange interaction with the gaseous feed materials whereby to cool the reaction product gas and to heat the gaseous feed materials; second reaction product gas passage means for receiving the cooled reaction product gas discharged from said heat exchange tubes of said heat exchanger; a cooling passage structure for indirectly cooling the contents of said catalyst bed means by passing a liquid coolant therethrough, the liquid coolant having a boiling point temperature which permits the liquid coolant to boil when subjected to an elevated temperature and pressure, said coolant passage structure comprising coolant inlet passage means and coolant outlet passage means both extending through said top cover of said outer pressure vessel, at least one coolant distributing header for receiving coolant from said coolant inlet passage means and at least one coolant collecting header for supplying coolant to said coolant outlet passage means and a multiplicity of vertical cooling tubes which extend vertically within said catalyst bed means, said cooling tubes being arranged in at least one arcuate formation concentric with the vertical axis of said outer pressure vessel, the lower end of each of said cooling tubes being connected with said coolant inlet passage means by said at least one coolant distributing header and the upper end of each of said cooling tubes being connected with said coolant outlet passage means by said at least one coolant collecting header, so that the coolant may be circulated through said cooling passage structure, said coolant inlet passage means supplying the liquid coolant to the lower ends of said cooling tubes by said at least one distributing header and said coolant outlet passage means discharging vapor of the coolant or a liquid-vapor mixture of the coolant collected by said at least one collecting header from the upper ends of said cooling tubes; and a cylindrical, gas-impermeable, outer, partition wall having a heat insulating layer thereon, said gas-impermeable outer partition wall being mounted coaxially within said pressure vessel and being located between and spaced from said pressure vessel and said outer, gas-permeable, catalyst retainer, said cylindrical outer partition wall being positioned and arranged so as to define a first elongated passageway between said pressure vessel and said cylindrical outer partition wall and defining a second elongated passageway between said cylindrical outer partition wall and said outer catalyst retainer, which first and second passageways are not in direct communication with each other, one end of said first passageway being in direct communication with said outlet for the product gas, the other end of said first passageway being connected to said second reaction product gas passage means so that the cooled reaction product gas discharged from said heat exchanger flows into and through said first passageway, said second passageway being connected with said first reaction product gas passage means for directing the high temperature reaction product gas discharged from said catalyst bed means into said heat exchange tubes of said heat exchanger. - View Dependent Claims (3, 5, 6, 7, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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4. A reactor for effecting a catalytic reaction wherein pressurized gaseous feed materials containing hydrogen contact a granular catalyst at an elevated temperature to form a high temperature reaction product gas, said reactor comprising:
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a cylindrical, vertical, outer, pressure vessel having a top cover, a bottom cover, an inlet for the gaseous feed materials and an outlet for the reaction product gas; a shell-and-tube heat exchanger centrally mounted within said outer pressure vessel and coaxial therewith, said heat exchanger comprising a vertically mounted cylindrical outer shell, upper and lower partition plates inside said shell defining the upper and lower ends of a shell-side heat exchange compartment therein and also defining upper and lower chambers within said heat exchanger which upper and lower chambers do not communicate with said compartment and a plurality of heat exchange tubes which penetrate said partition plates and extend into and through said compartment but do not communicate therewith, said heat exchanger having a heat transfer area sufficient to preheat low temperature gaseous feed materials and to cool the high temperature reaction product gas to a temperature below 300°
C., by flowing the gaseous feed materials and the reaction product gas in indirect heat exchanging relationship in said heat exchanger;inner and outer, coaxial, cylindrical, gas-permeable, catalyst retainers, said catalyst retainers being mounted within said pressure vessel coaxially therewith and located between said shell of said heat exchanger and said pressure vessel, said inner and outer catalyst retainers positioned so as to define an annular intercylinder space; a bottom wall extending beneath said catalyst retainers and fixedly connecting said catalyst retainers to each other; granular catalyst bed means packed in the intercylinder space between said catalyst retainers above said bottom wall; first feed gas passage means for conducting the gaseous feed materials to said heat exchange tubes of said heat exchanger, and second feed gas passage means for introducing preheated gaseous feed materials discharged from said heat exchange tubes of said heat exchanger into said catalyst bed means and flowing the preheated gaseous feed materials radially through said catalyst bed means; first reaction product gas passage means for conducting the high temperature reaction product gas discharged from said catalyst bed means to said shell-side heat exchange compartment for indirect heat exchange interaction with the gaseous feed materials whereby to cool the reaction product gas and to heat the gaseous feed materials; second reaction product gas passage means for receiving the cooled reaction product gas discharged from said shell-side heat exchange compartment of said heat exchanger; a cooling passage structure for indirectly cooling the contents of said catalyst bed means by passing a liquid coolant therethrough, the liquid coolant having a boiling point temperature which permits the liquid coolant to boil when subjected to an elevated temperature and pressure, said coolant passage structure comprising coolant inlet passage means and coolant outlet passage means both extending through said top cover of said outer pressure vessel, at least one coolant distributing header for receiving coolant from said coolant inlet passage means and at least one coolant collecting header for supplying coolant to said coolant outlet passage means and a multiplicity of vertical cooling tubes which extend vertically within said catalyst bed means, said cooling tubes being arranged in at least one arcuate formation concentric with the vertical axis of said outer pressure vessel, the lower end of each of said cooling tubes being connected with said coolant inlet passage means by said at least one coolant distributing header and the upper end of each of said cooling tubes being connected with said coolant outlet passage means by said at least one coolant collecting header so that the coolant may be circulated through said cooling passage structure, said coolant inlet passage means supplying the liquid coolant to the lower ends of said cooling tubes by said at least one distributing header and said coolant outlet passage means discharging vapor of the coolant or a liquid-vapor mixture of the coolant collected by said at least one collecting header from the upper ends of said cooling tubes; and a cylindrical, gas-impermeable, outer, partition wall having a heat insulating layer thereon, said gas-impermeable outer partition wall being mounted coaxially within said pressure vessel and being located between and spaced from said pressure vessel and said outer, gas-permeable, catalyst retainer, said cylindrical outer partition wall being positioned and arranged so as to define a first elongated passageway between said pressure vessel and said cylindrical outer partition wall and defining a second elongated passageway between said cylindrical outer partition wall and said outer catalyst retainer, which first and second passageways are not in direct communication with each other, one end of said first passageway being in direct communication with said outlet for the product gas, the other end of said first passageway being connected to said second reaction product gas passage means so that the cooled reaction product gas discharged from said heat exchanger flows into and through said first passageway, said second passageway being connected with said first reaction product gas passage means for directing the high temperature reaction product gas discharged from said catalyst bed means into said shell-side heat exchange compartment of said heat exchanger. - View Dependent Claims (8, 10)
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15. In a reactor including an outer pressure vessel having an inlet passage for feeding gaseous feed materials into said pressure vessel and an outlet passage for discharging a product gas therefrom, a bed of a granular catalyst and means for flowing a reactant gas comprising the gaseous feed materials through said granular catalyst so that it reacts to form a product gas, means for cooling the product gas and preheating the gaseous feed materials, and means for cooling the reactant gas as the reactant gas passes through said catalyst bed, the improvement which comprises:
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said outer pressure vessel is upright and cylindrical, and comprises a bottom cover and a removable top cover; said cooling and preheating means comprises a heat exchanger centrally mounted within said outer pressure vessel coaxially therewith, said heat exchanger comprising a substantially cylindrical outer shell, upper and lower partition plates subdividing the interior of said shell in the lengthwise direction thereof, a plurality of heat exchanger tubes extending from said upper partition plate to said lower partition plate, said heat exchanger tubes opening above said upper partition plate and opening below said lower partition plate, said partition plates being positioned so as to define a shell-side heat exchange compartment therebetween, an upper chamber above said upper partition plate and a lower chamber below said lower partition plate, said shell of said heat exchanger having openings at opposite end portions thereof so that a gas can enter said compartment near one end of said compartment and be discharged from the opening at the other end of said compartment, said inlet passage for the gaseous feed materials being in communication with said heat exchanger tubes of said heat exchanger so that the gaseous feed materials undergo heat exchange and are thereby preheated before being fed to said catalyst bed; said catalyst bed comprises spaced-apart inner and outer cylinder gas-permeable catalyst retainers being positioned and arranged so as to define an intercylinder space therebetween coaxial with said outer pressure vessel and said heat exchanger, said inner catalyst retainer being of smaller diameter than said outer catalyst retainer, and a bottom wall extending beneath said catalyst retainers and fixedly connecting said catalyst retainers to each other, said catalyst retainers and said bottom wall being spaced apart from the inner periphery of said outer pressure vessel, said granular catalyst being packed in the intercylinder space between said inner and outer catalyst retainers above said bottom wall; said cooling means comprising a cooling structure having a coolant inlet passage and a coolant outlet passage which both extend through said top cover of said outer pressure vessel, and a multiplicity of vertical cooling tubes which extend through said catalyst bed, said granular catalyst being packed around said cooling tubes, each of said cooling tubes being in communication with said coolant inlet passage and said coolant outlet passage so that a liquid coolant may be circulated through said cooling structure to absorb reaction heat generated in said catalyst bed; a cylindrical, gas-impermeable, outer, partition wall coaxial with said outer pressure vessel and located between said outer pressure vessel and said outer gas-permeable catalyst retainer and spaced therefrom so as to be positioned to define a first outer gas flow passageway between said outer pressure vessel and said cylindrical outer partition wall and a second inner gas flow passageway between said cylindrical outer partition wall and said outer catalyst retainer, whereby the product gas from said catalyst bed is discharged through said outer catalyst retainer into said second inner gas flow passageway, flows through said second inner flow passageway and thence into said shell-side heat exchange compartment of said heat exchanger, undergoes heat exchange with the gaseous feed materials in said heat exchanger, thereby cooling the product gas, and then is fed through said first outer gas flow passageway to the product gas outlet formed on said outer pressure vessel.
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Specification