SCI和EI收录∣中国化工学会会刊

Chin.J.Chem.Eng. ›› 2016, Vol. 24 ›› Issue (5): 612-622.

Modeling-based optimization of a fixed-bed industrial reactor for oxidative dehydrogenation of propane

Ali Darvishi1, Razieh Davand1, Farhad Khorasheh2, Moslem Fattahi3

1. 1 Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran;
2 Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, Sharif University of Technology, Azadi Avenue, Tehran, Iran;
3 Department of Chemical Engineering, Abadan Faculty of Petroleum Engineering, Petroleum University of Technology, Abadan, Iran
• Received:2015-05-21 Revised:2015-09-12 Online:2016-06-14 Published:2016-05-28
• Contact: Moslem Fattahi

Modeling-based optimization of a fixed-bed industrial reactor for oxidative dehydrogenation of propane

Ali Darvishi1, Razieh Davand1, Farhad Khorasheh2, Moslem Fattahi3

1. 1 Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran;
2 Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, Sharif University of Technology, Azadi Avenue, Tehran, Iran;
3 Department of Chemical Engineering, Abadan Faculty of Petroleum Engineering, Petroleum University of Technology, Abadan, Iran
• 通讯作者: Moslem Fattahi

Abstract: An industrial scale propylene production via oxidative dehydrogenation of propane (ODHP) inmulti-tubular reactorswasmodeled. Multi-tubular fixed-bed reactor used for ODHP process, employing 10000 of small diameter tubes immersed in a shell through a proper coolant flows. Herein, a theory-based pseudo-homogeneous model to describe the operation of a fixed bed reactor for the ODHP to correspondence olefin over V2O5/γ-Al2O3 catalyst was presented. Steady state one dimensional model has been developed to identify the operation parameters and to describe the propane and oxygen conversions, gas process and coolant temperatures, as well as other parameters affecting the reactor performance such as pressure. Furthermore, the applied model showed that a double-bed multitubular reactor with intermediate air injection scheme was superior to a single-bed design due to the increasing of propylene selectivity while operating under lower oxygen partial pressures resulting in propane conversion of about 37.3%. The optimized length of the reactor needed to reach 100% conversion of the oxygen was theoretically determined. For the single-bed reactor the optimized length of 11.96 m including 0.5 m of inert section at the entrance region and for the double-bed reactor design the optimized lengths of 5.72mfor the first and 7.32mfor the second reactor were calculated. Ultimately, the use of a distributed oxygen feed with limited number of injection points indicated a significant improvement on the reactor performance in terms of propane conversion and propylene selectivity. Besides, this concept could overcome the reactor runaway temperature problem and enabled operations at the wider range of conditions to obtain enhanced propylene production in an industrial scale reactor.