Hydrodynamics of a Novel High-Speed MTO Loop Reactor: Profiles of Solids Concentration and Circulation Rate | AIChE

Hydrodynamics of a Novel High-Speed MTO Loop Reactor: Profiles of Solids Concentration and Circulation Rate

Authors 

Wang, F. - Presenter, China University of Petroleum(Beijing)
The methanol-to-olefins (MTO) is an important reaction for producing basic petrochemicals from nonoil resources such as coal and natural gas. The reactor design plays a vital role for the hydrodynamics of gas-solid phase, which relate closely with the conversion and selection of reaction. A novel high-speed MTO loop reactor (turbulent or fast fluidized bed upward flow in the draft tube in parallel with bubbling or turbulent bed downward flow in the annulus) was developed aiming at improving the flow characteristics of gas-solid phase for MTO reaction. The profiles of solids concentration in the four regions (the bottom region, the draft tube region, the annulus region and the gas-solid separation region) and the solids circulation rate between the annulus region and the draft tube region were investigated in the present paper. They were measured by the optical fiber probe. The fiber probe was placed at different axial and radial positions in the four regions. An empirical relation of local and average solids concentration within the draft tube region was obtained based on the experimental results. Moreover, a model about the solids circulation rate was established on the basis of energy equilibrium principle.