Design and Simulation of a Reverse Flow Reactor for Catalytic Oxidation of Lean Benzene Emissions

This paper deals with reactor design, modeling, and simulation of a pilot-scale reverse flow operation used for catalytic oxidation of lean benzene-air mixtures. The reactor was designed for conducting lean benzene with adiabatic temperature rise less than 54°C. According to the rule of thumb, this kind of condition requires the reaction to be accomplished under reverse flow operation. In the reactor design, some criteria were calculated such as Mears, Weisz-Prater and Ergun's criteria The reactor model was developed for 1D, pseudo-homogeneous, involving mass and energy balances. The fixed bed consisted of the inert section, placed at the outer part of the catalyst section. The results of the simulation indicated that the switching time, inlet concentration and heat extraction imposed an important influence on the performance of the reactor. Under the suitable operating conditions, the system can achieve a favorable running status, without reactor extinction, and can be operated auto-thermal, in fact, more thermal energy from the catalyst section was feasible to extract. The temperature profile remained smooth and continuous in the case of desired energy extracting from the heat exchanger.