Modeling and Simulation Study of an Industrial Radial Moving Bed Reactor for Propane Dehydrogenation Process

Abstract

An accurate model is required to optimize the propane dehydrogenation reaction carried out in the radial moving bed reactors (RMBR). The present study modeled the RMBR using a plug flow reactor model incorporated with kinetic models expressed in simple power-law model. Catalyst activity and coke formation were also considered. The model was solved numerically by discretizing the RMBR in axial and radial directions. The optimized kinetic parameters were then used to predict the trends of propane conversion, temperature, catalyst activity and coke content in the RMBR along axial and radial directions. It was found that the predicted activation energies of the propane dehydrogenation, propane cracking and ethylene hydrogenation were in reasonable agreement with the experimental values reported in the literature. The model developed has accurately predicted the reaction temperature profile, conversion profile and catalyst coke content. The deviations of these simulated results from the plant data were less than 5%.

Advanced design and development of catalysts in propane dehydrogenation

“…However, once the reaction pressure is below the atmosphere pressure, there exists a leaking problem, which brings great challenges to practical applications. 25 Furthermore, it is rational that the single-pass conversion could be elevated by decreasing the partial pressure of the H 2 product, but the practical application process temporarily lacks a gas separation unit to achieve that goal. On the other hand, the H 2 product could act as an additive to help redisperse the sintering metal species and restrict the corresponding side reactions, thus prolonging the lifetime of catalysts and reducing the process cost.…”

An economic analysis of twenty light olefin production pathways

“…While ethylene and propylene yields are 80% and 2.4% in ethane cracking process [3] . Booming expansion of ethane cracker has impacted the global propylene capacity, inspiring growth of the on-purpose technologies of propylene production [4] . Propane dehydrogenation (PDH) is one of the on-purpose technologies of propylene production that recovers propylene from propane.…”

Numerical Investigations of the Oxidative Dehydrogenation of Propane in a Spouted Bed Reactor

“…8 In addition, the presence of oxygen limited coking and extended the catalysts' lifetimes. However, in comparison to the commercialized PDH technologies, 9,10 the oxidative dehydrogenation of propane (ODHP) is still considered in its infancy stage of development due to the difficulties of the inhibition to over-oxidation of hydrocarbons. 3,11,12 To overcome this challenge, a great number of studies have been conducted over the last decades.…”