This paper describes a comparison among the reactor
technologies used in the process of
oxidation. For dehydrogenation of butene into butadiene, three
reactor types are compared:
(1) a fluidized-bed reactor using multi revolving link stoppers with a
group VIII variable-valence
catalyst, (2) an adiabatic fixed-bed reactor, and (3) a polytube,
constant-temperature fixed-bed
reactor. The results of the comparison indicate that the polytube
fixed-bed reactor at constant
temperature is better than the fluidized-bed reactor, which in turn is
better than the adiabatic
reactor. Using a polytube, constant-temperature fixed-bed reactor
with butene's space velocity
of 400 h-1, butadiene yield reached 78.7%, butene
conversion reached 86.1%, and butadiene
selectivity reached 91.4%. If these results can be achieved in
industry, they will be the world
records.