Performance of a multi-slit packed bed microstructured reactor in the synthesis of methanol: Comparison with a laboratory fixed-bed reactor

Direct dimethyl ether synthesis from synthesis gas: The influence of methanol dehydration on methanol synthesis reaction

“…The reactor consists of a 6 cm long reaction slit with rectangular cross section of 8.8 × 1.5 mm 2 , sandwiched between cross flow channels for circulation of a heat transfer oil. Such reactors have been studied earlier under similar operating conditions for the methanol [21][22][23] and the direct DME [24][25][26] syntheses, and established as practically isothermal, isobaric, free from mass transfer limitations, and with a narrow residence time distribution. Premixed synthesis gas with H 2 to CO molar ratio of either 1 (Syngas-1) or 2 (Syngas-2) was used as feed.…”

Modeling and Simulation of an Integrated Micro Packed Bed Reactor-Heat Exchanger Configuration for Direct Dimethyl Ether Synthesis

“…u s is the superficial linear velocity and D e and k e are the effective diffusivity and conductivity, respectively. Several of our experimental investigations have concluded that the reactor wall temperature is controlled by the cooling oil temperature within a range of 2 K. This was investigated by insertion of a thermocouple inside one reaction slit [26], and the same was found in the methanol synthesis case [22]. Measurements of the reactor housing (skin) temperature at three different points also correlated with the oil temperature within 2-3 K. Furthermore, when properly insulated, the temperature difference between oil inlet and outlet was below the detection limit (*0.1 K) [26].…”

“…Details on the fabrication of this reactor have been described elsewhere [22,[24][25][26]. Reactors with eight reaction slits (8-slit reactors) of a different cross section of 8.8 9 0.8 mm 2 and with nine adjacent cooling channels were applied for performance assessment, and the reaction slits were equipped with hexagonally arranged pillars throughout the slits in order to facilitate heat transfer and flow distribution [25].…”

“…The heat exchange cross flow oil channels were always made in 0.5 mm thick metal foils, with 0.25 9 0.5 mm 2 cross section and 0.25 mm wide fins between the channels. A high temperature oil thermostat was used to regulate the temperature of the circulating oil [22].…”

“…This combined process is highly exothermic and control of temperature is a crucial issue. Microchannel reactors with their superior mass and heat transfer may thus be a suitable reactor configuration [19][20][21], and we have recently published our first experimental studies on the application of an integrated micro packed bed reactorheat exchanger for the synthesis of methanol [22] and DME [23] as well as in the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis [24]. In this work, we proceed to develop a representative reactor model for the direct DME synthesis from synthesis gas over a physical mixture of CuO-ZnO-Al 2 O 3 and c-Al 2 O 3 .…”