Heat Transfer at a Particle‐Tube Wall Contact Point: Impact of Catalyst Configuration on Hot Spots

Abstract

Hot spots tend to cause serious problems owing to probable damages to the reactor wall in intense endothermic reactions leading to safety concerns and enormous repairing costs. The heat transfer of a single cylindrical particle is studied empirically and numerically to evaluate hot spot creation close to the bed wall. Computational fluid dynamcis (CFD) methodology is used to solve the momentum, continuity, and energy equations simultaneously. The newly developed experimental method is applied to validate simulation data using the Chilton‐Colburn analogy. The particle rotation over the X, Y, and Z axes is studied and analysis of variance (ANOVA) is employed to statistically investigate the particle rotation effects on the dimensionless maximum temperature of the reactor wall.