Optimizing catalyst supports at single catalyst pellet and packed bed reactor levels: A comparison study

Abstract

Using a catalyst support with optimal pore network and pellet structures is critical to the success of an industrial heterogeneous catalyst. This work optimizes the catalyst support of a dry reforming of methane catalyst at packed bed reactor level, that is, effects of concentration and temperature gradients in the reactor are accounted for. Meanwhile, the optimization at reactor level is also compared with that at single catalyst pellet level where fixed concentrations and temperature are imposed on the pellet surface. Results show that the optimal structures obtained at pellet level are similar to these acquired at reactor level, but the improvements in catalyst performance calculated at pellet level are overestimated. Therefore, when designing an industrial catalyst pellet, the preferred structures can be obtained from the optimization at pellet level, but the corresponding improvements in catalyst performance should be evaluated at reactor level to reflect the reality in industry.

Computational Design of Pore Structure in Heavy Paraffin Dehydrogenation Catalyst Pellets

“…For example, the diffusion fluxes on the external surface of catalyst pellets are used as source terms for the mass balance equations at the reactor level; the concentrations in the reactor are set to be the boundary conditions for the mass balance equations at the pellet level. A similar approach is also successfully employed in our previous works. ,, …”

“…A similar approach is also successfully employed in our previous works. 22,25,26 2.1. Reaction Kinetics.…”

“…The concentration and temperature profiles at the reactor level can importantly affect the optimal design of catalyst pellets. Some continuum models have been developed to describe the multiscale processes. − For example, Shi et al developed a multiscale model by coupling flow, diffusion, and reaction equations at pellet and reactor levels in hydrodemetalation of crude oil. Liu et al established a similar multiscale model for methane dry reforming.…”

High-Performance Catalytic Four-Channel Hollow Fibers with Highly Dispersed Nickel Nanoparticles Prepared by Atomic Layer Deposition for Dry Reforming of Methane

“…Mathematical modeling demonstrated that the multichannel cylinder-shaped catalyst support could achieve high effectiveness, low pressure drop, and excellent heat transfer performance, as compared to sphere-shaped, cylinder-shaped, or single-channel cylinder-shaped catalysts . Besides, it was reported that a four-channel cylinder-shaped catalyst had the highest methane conversion in the practical DRM test among different shaped catalysts (e.g., sphere, cylinder, trilobe, Raschig ring, and four-channel cylinder) . Due to its high thermal and mechanical stability and strong interaction with Ni nanoparticles, , Al 2 O 3 is commonly used as a support for Ni-based catalysts for the DRM reaction.…”

Particle-Resolved CFD Simulations of Isobutane and 2-Butene Alkylation over Complex-Shaped Zeolite Catalysts in Fixed Bed Reactors

“…Partopour and Dixon investigated the impact of pellet shape on the catalyst performance on a reactor scale by numerically generating fixed beds and found that the pellet shape significantly affected the conversion of methanol in partial oxidation. Liu et al optimized the catalyst pellet shape and pore size for the dry reforming of methane on both pellet and packed bed reactor levels and reported an overestimated catalyst performance at the pellet level compared with the estimation at the reactor level. However, few publications have optimized the catalyst shape on a reactor scale, especially for liquid-phase reactions up to now.…”