Chemical Engineering & Technology, Vol.40, No.11, 2058-2066, 2017
Homogeneous Gas-Liquid Distribution for Monolithic Structures via a Needle Distributor
Structured catalysts are a widely discussed approach for process intensification of chemical multiphase reactors. But equal to common catalyst structures, homogeneous educt distribution along the catalytic surface is mandatory for high reactor performance. Especially monolithic structures require a homogeneous initial fluid distribution. A novel distribution concept for gas-liquid flow through arbitrary channel matrices is presented. It is based on the injection principle where gas and liquid are inserted directly into the channels. A prototype for different cell densities was built and tested by various measurement techniques: gravimetry, X-ray tomography, and an optical fiber sensor. Additionally, the flow regime per channel was detected as equal to single-channel conditions.
Keywords:Monoliths;Multiphase reactions;Phase distribution;Process intensification;Structured catalysts