Inner diameter of the reaction tubes in a tubular fixed-bed reactor

The catalysts mentioned by the original poster are involved in a fairly wide range of industries. I cannot specify the exact dimensions of these types of reactors, but generally, the size of the reactor is determined first, and then the shape and size of the catalyst are designed based on that reactor size. In other words, it is not the size of the catalyst that determines the reactor; rather, it is the size of the reactor that determines the catalyst. The diameter of a tubular fixed-bed reactor is primarily limited by the characteristics of the respective reactions. When the reaction is a highly exothermic reaction or a highly endothermic reaction, the pipe diameter is usually relatively small. Processes such as methanol synthesis and Fischer-Tropsch synthesis are highly exothermic reactions, and the pipe diameters used in industrial applications are typically between 20 mm and 30 mm. In Shell’s natural gas to oil project in Qatar, the internal diameter of the tubular reactors used is 20 mm, with approximately 20,000 reaction tubes in each reactor. If the reaction itself is mild, with little heat released or absorbed during the reaction process, the diameter of the reactor can be increased accordingly; however, in such cases, more consideration must be given to fluid-related issues.

Could you be more specific regarding the process and types of catalysts?

Friend on the 2nd floor, regarding the natural gas to oil project of Shell in Qatar that you mentioned, the tubular reactors used there have an inner diameter of 20 mm, with approximately 20,000 reaction tubes in each reactor. Where is the data source? I’d like to see more information. Could you provide it? Also, is the inner diameter of the natural gas to oil conversion reactor tube in Shell’s plants in Malaysia also 20 mm?

Back on the 4th floor, I heard about it from a manager at MAN Dwe, one of the reactor manufacturers. Their company provided 12 reactors for that project (half of the total number of reactors). As for the inner diameter of the natural gas to oil conversion reactor tubes in Shell’s facilities in Malaysia, I’m not very familiar with it, so I’m unable to provide an accurate answer. I’m sorry.

I’ll talk about what the original poster mentioned – namely, the synthesis tower used in the methanol production process from coke oven gas. The details of this synthesis tower are as follows: diameter of φ3400, height of 15100 mm (including the steam drum); it is of the shell-and-tube type, with tube bundles of φ38*2*6000. The tubes are filled with C307 catalyst, and the amount of catalyst used is 29 m3. At the bottom, there are 12 m3 of refractory balls with φ25 holes, while at the top, there are 0.9 m3 of refractory balls with φ10 holes. As several people mentioned above, it’s important to pay attention to its bulk density!

The tubular fixed-bed reactors used in Shell’s GTL project in Bintulu, Malaysia, consist of a total of 104,600 reaction tubes, with a diameter of 26 mm and a length of 12.865 m. The fixed-bed reactor used by Shell is rather special; it increases the heat exchange efficiency inside the reaction tube by spraying solvent from the top of the reactor into its interior. Additionally, Shell’s GTL project in Qatar features 24 reactors in total (as *aojungnft mentioned, Belleli and Man DWE provide half of them each); each reactor is 20 meters tall and weighs 1,200 tons, and it contains 29,000 reaction tubes. This post was last edited by fossil-zhang on 2009-2-28 at 14:38.]

The tube diameter of external-cooled shell-and-tube reactors is generally the nominal diameter, with inner diameters typically being 25.4, 32, 38, etc. The specific diameter needs to be calculated; generally, a pseudo-homogeneous two-dimensional model is used based on reaction kinetics to determine the temperature difference between the center of the tube and its wall. If this temperature difference is too large, the diameter of the reaction tube must be reduced. The heat of reaction is high, and the temperature difference is large. The external cooling medium has a high heat transfer coefficient and a small temperature difference

Shell’s HPS reactors in Bintulu comprise a total of 104,600 reaction tubes; there are four such reactors, with each one containing 26,150 reaction tubes. The diameter of these reaction tubes is 26 mm, and their length is 12.865 meters. Shell’s GTL facility in Bintulu has an overall daily production capacity of 14,700 barrels, with each reactor producing just over 3,000 barrels per day. Shell has a total of 24 reactors for its GTL project at Pearl in Qatar (provided by Belleli and Man DWE); the reactors supplied by Belleli have an outer diameter of 7 meters, a height of 20 meters, and a weight of 1200 tons. They contain 29,386 reaction tubes with a diameter of 26 mm, and the combined production capacity of all these reactors is 140,000 barrels per day.

This post was last edited by fossil-zhang on 2009-8-28 at 12:15. Brother, when copying and reposting someone else’s content, it’s necessary to give some explanation. We’re all here to learn and communicate; it’s fine for you to copy my content, but at least make some changes (you didn’t change a single word), or provide some explanation. It’s not that I’m stingy; there are rules in the forum regarding responding to answers copied from others.

So do you know how they determine the heat transfer coefficient inside the tubes when designing reactors? In other words, how to fill the catalyst or select the pipe diameter to ensure that the heat generated by the reaction is removed promptly? I don’t know how to determine the heat transfer coefficient inside the pipe at the moment; I would appreciate some guidance.