CYCLOP: Cyclic operation of trickle bed reactors

• Research unit: EU RFP
• Project number: 00.0115

Key words (English)

Trickle bed reactor; cyclic operation; pulsing flow; selectivity; conversion;
Economic Aspects; Environmental Protection; Industrial Manufacture; Innovation; Technology Transfer; Safety

Alternative project number (English)

EU project number: G1RD-2000-00225

Research programs (English)

EU-programme: 5. Frame Research Programme - 1.3.1 Innovative products, processes and organization

Short description (English)

See abstract

Partners and International Organizations (English)

Coordinator: DSM, Geleen (NL)

Abstract (English)

Trickle bed reactors are used in many chemical operations with rather high heat generation rates. Their drawbacks are the chance for runaways and thereby unsafety, moreover the selectivity to the desired product is less than wanted. During the last decade in different chemical engineering laboratories the insight has grown that cyclic operation will improve on the aspects of bad selectivity and unsafety.

Cyclic operations can be performed in one of two ways
- in the slow mode, where with a time interval of the order of minutes periodic changes of liquid feed rate and/or reactant concentration are forced;
- in the fast mode where short pulses of liquid, in the order of seconds, travel through the column.

The combination of non-steady state reactants behaviour and non-steady state hydrodynamics, mass and heat transfer makes a good design very complicated. Scientists of five principal laboratories, together with industries did gather within a thematic network and now have set up a project to combine good basic research to obtain a complete set of design and operation rules that will make this new technology available for implementation. The project will have a high radiative impact on many other processes in the chemical industry where forced cyclic operation can be used to achieve higher conversions, selectivity, safety and less waste.

References in databases (English)

Swiss Database: Euro-DB of the
State Secretariat for Education and Research
Hallwylstrasse 4
CH-3003 Berne, Switzerland
Tel. [phone]
Swiss Project-Number: 00.0115