May I ask which chemical processing units use tubular fixed-bed reactors?
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This post was last edited by worldboy110 on 2009-9-24 10:40. In the chemical industry (mainly petrochemicals), which units are tubular fixed-bed reactors? Besides oil synthesis via the indirect coal method, methanol synthesis towers, hydrogen production, ethylene oxide and ethylene glycol, and maleic anhydride, what other processes make use of tubular fixed-bed reactors? I don’t know much about related tubular reactors such as hydrocarbon steam reforming, ethylbenzene dehydrogenation, partial oxidation of ethylene, and benzene oxidation. Could someone from the petrochemical industry provide more detailed information? Thank you
The process of producing vinyl chloride by adding hydrogen chloride to acetylene also employs a tubular fixed-bed reactor. Generally speaking, the advantages of tubular fixed-bed reactors are low backmixing, high space-time conversion, and better heat removal from the bed compared to conventional fixed beds; however, the investment required for a given production capacity is higher, and the catalyst replacement process is complex. Currently, some fields that traditionally use tubular fixed-bed reactors are being replaced by multi-stage fluidized beds.