Regarding the adiabatic isothermal methanol synthesis reactor at East China University of Science and Technology
Thread Content
“How to understand “adiabatic” and “isothermal”? Is the upper part the adiabatic reaction zone and the lower part the isothermal reaction zone? If that’s the case, how should the conversion rate in the adiabatic section be considered?
The adiabatic section is generally 700 mm high; its main purpose is to rapidly raise the temperature of the syngas to the optimal activity range of the catalyst, so that the isothermal section below it is in the optimal reaction temperature range. At the same time, the adiabatic section can neutralize catalyst poisons and protect the catalyst in the isothermal section. The conversion rate in the adiabatic section is generally designed to be around 1 percentage point of the CO reaction volume (total volume), resulting in an adiabatic temperature rise of 30–40°C.
It seems to have been done by Ying Weiyong; you can go and ask the people in their research team directly
Adiabatic means that there is no heat exchange; instead, the temperature of the reaction gas rises due to this exothermic reaction. So that the reaction gas reaches the optimal reaction temperature upon entering the isothermal reaction section. Isothermality means maintaining a constant temperature in the catalyst bed during the reaction process, with heat transfer primarily occurring through the generation of high-pressure steam.
The full name is adiabatic isothermal tubular type. The catalyst is placed in many small tubes, while the shell side is used for heat exchange with boiler feedwater. This type of synthesis tower makes it easy to control its temperature; the heat of reaction is absorbed by the boiler water in the shell side, so there is almost no increase in temperature in the catalyst bed. The temperature of the synthesis tower bed is controlled by adjusting the steam temperature corresponding to the bubble pressure!
It seems that Lurgi’s models also come with steam injectors.
The Lurgi plate has a tube-free space.