화학공학소재연구정보센터
Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research, Vol.44, No.25, 9556-9560, 2005
Stacking of film-flow monoliths for improved performance in reactive stripping
Stacked film-flow monoliths and Sulzer katapak-S have been tested as structured catalyst supports under reactive stripping conditions where a countercurrent inert gas phase allows for the in situ separation of low-boiling compounds, enhancing the reactor performance. Whereas fully developed laminar flow dominates in the earlier-developed continuous film-flow monoliths, leading to slow radial diffusion, the flow pattern in katapak-S is characterized by frequent remixing and disturbance of the liquid films, leading to an improved mass transfer. As shown by residence time distribution (RTD) and nonreactive stripping experiments, the same effect is achieved by radially remixing the laminar layers in stacked monoliths. Under reactive stripping conditions in a pilot-scale reactor, stacked monoliths show a slightly higher performance than katapak-S. As the catalyst hold-up can be tuned by the coating procedure and the flow pattern is quite simple, stacked monoliths might be applied in cases when processes are limited by intraparticle diffusion or when viscous or foaming fluids are present (e.g., in biological processes).