The difference between air velocity and linear velocity through the tower
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What is the difference between space velocity and linear velocity through a fixed-bed reactor? What are the influencing factors? Could the expert provide a detailed explanation? Thank you.
This post was last edited by ylb913 on 2018-7-6 at 16:08. The space velocity in a fixed-bed reactor is expressed in units of hours per unit (1/h), that is, the volumetric flow rate of the material divided by the volume of the catalyst bed. The space velocity of the reactor is related to the activity of the catalyst; too high a space velocity may prevent the reaction from reaching equilibrium or result in incomplete reaction, while too low a space velocity increases investment costs. The linear velocity of the empty tower is the volumetric flow rate of the material divided by the cross-sectional area of the tower, and then divided by 3600 seconds per hour; the resulting unit is m/s. If the linear velocity in an empty tower is too high, foam entrainment will occur; in severe cases, this can lead to flooding of the tower. If the linear velocity is too low, liquid will leak from the tray sections, and in serious situations this can affect the separation efficiency and even result in substandard product quality.
Reaction space velocity is the amount of feed oil processed per unit time per unit amount of catalyst. The line speed for an empty tower was well explained above.
Fixed-bed reactors also have a concept of empty-bed linear velocity; what impacts does it have? Thank you for your answer