Study on Effective Radial Thermal Conductivity of Gas Flow through a Methanol Reactor
-
Kun Lei
,
Haitao Zhang
Abstract
The heat conduction performance of the methanol synthesis reactor is significant for the development of large-scale methanol production. The present work has measured the temperature distribution in the fixed bed at air volumetric flow rate 2.4–7 m3 · h−1, inlet air temperature 160–200°C and heating tube temperature 210–270°C. The effective radial thermal conductivity and effective wall heat transfer coefficient were derived based on the steady-state measurements and the two-dimensional heat transfer model. A correlation was proposed based on the experimental data, which related well the Nusselt number and the effective radial thermal conductivity to the particle Reynolds number ranging from 59.2 to 175.8. The heat transfer model combined with the correlation was used to calculate the temperature profiles. A comparison with the predicated temperature and the measurements was illustrated and the results showed that the predication agreed very well with the experimental results. All the absolute values of the relative errors were less than 10%, and the model was verified by experiments. Comparing the correlations of both this work with previously published showed that there are considerable discrepancies among them due to different experimental conditions. The influence of the particle Reynolds number on the temperature distribution inside the bed was also discussed and it was shown that improving particle Reynolds number contributed to enhance heat transfer in the fixed bed.
Acknowledgement
The authors acknowledge financial support in this research from the National Key Technology R&D Program of China (No. 2006BAE02B02).
Nomenclature
- Cp
Specific heat, J · kg−1 · K−1
- dp
Packed particle diameter, mm
- dt
Column diameter, mm
- e
Undetermined coefficients
- G
Mass velocity, kg · m−2 · s−1
- Gv
Gas volume flow rate, Nm3 · h−1
- L
Column height, mm
- l
Axial distance, mm
- Nu
Nusselt number
- Q
Quantity of heat, J
- R
Dimensionless radius
- Rep
Particle Reynolds number
- r
Radial distance, mm
- rw
Heating tube radius, mm
- r0
Column radius, mm
- t
Temperature, °C
- tin
Inlet temperature, °C
- tw
Heating tube temperature, °C
- u
Fluid velocity, m · s−1
- y
Test function
- Greek letters
- αw
Effective wall heat transfer coefficient, W · m−2 · K−1
- λer
Effective radial thermal conductivity, W · m−1 · K−1
- λf
Fluid thermal conductivity, W · m−1 · K−1
Thermal conductivity at zero flow, W · m−1 · K−1
- μ
Fluid viscosity, Pa · s
- ρ
Fluid density, kg · m−3
- Subscript
- Cal
Calculation results
- Exp
Experimental results
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©2015 by De Gruyter
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- A Novel Catalyst Preparation Technique to Improve Performance of Ni/γ-Al2O3 Catalysts in Partial Oxidation of Methane
- Characterization and Deactivation Study of Mixed Vanadium and Potassium Oxide Supported on Microemulsion-Mediated Titania Nanoparticles as Catalyst in Oxidative Dehydrogenation of Propane
- Effect of Titania Loading on Properties and Catalytic Activity of Nanostructured Phosphate–Vanadia-Impregnated Silica–Titania Oxidative–Acidic Bifunctional Catalyst
- Effects of Partial Slip on Chemically Reactive Solute Distribution in MHD Boundary Layer Stagnation Point Flow Past a Stretching Permeable Sheet
- Heat and Mass Transfer of Thermophoretic MHD Flow of Powell–Eyring Fluid over a Vertical Stretching Sheet in the Presence of Chemical Reaction and Joule Heating
- Integration of Optimization and Model Predictive Control of an Intensified Continuous Three-Phase Catalytic Reactor
- Kinetics of Reactive Extraction of Pyruvic Acid Using Tributylamine Dissolved in n-Butyl Acetate
- Mathematical Modeling, Verification and Optimization for Catalytic Membrane Esterification Micro-reactor
- Metal-Foam-Supported Pd/Al2O3 Catalysts for Catalytic Combustion of Methane: Effect of Interaction between Support and Catalyst
- Simulation of Soot Size Distribution in a Counterflow Flame
- Study on Effective Radial Thermal Conductivity of Gas Flow through a Methanol Reactor
- Surface Functionalization and Magnetic Motion of Hydrophobic Magnetic Nanoparticles with Different Sizes
- Towards Production of γ-valerolactone via Hydrogenation of Aqueous Levulinic Acid
- Nitrogen Removal to Minimize Energy Consumption of the Two WWTPs Choutrana II and Menzel Bourguiba in Tunisia
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- A Novel Catalyst Preparation Technique to Improve Performance of Ni/γ-Al2O3 Catalysts in Partial Oxidation of Methane
- Characterization and Deactivation Study of Mixed Vanadium and Potassium Oxide Supported on Microemulsion-Mediated Titania Nanoparticles as Catalyst in Oxidative Dehydrogenation of Propane
- Effect of Titania Loading on Properties and Catalytic Activity of Nanostructured Phosphate–Vanadia-Impregnated Silica–Titania Oxidative–Acidic Bifunctional Catalyst
- Effects of Partial Slip on Chemically Reactive Solute Distribution in MHD Boundary Layer Stagnation Point Flow Past a Stretching Permeable Sheet
- Heat and Mass Transfer of Thermophoretic MHD Flow of Powell–Eyring Fluid over a Vertical Stretching Sheet in the Presence of Chemical Reaction and Joule Heating
- Integration of Optimization and Model Predictive Control of an Intensified Continuous Three-Phase Catalytic Reactor
- Kinetics of Reactive Extraction of Pyruvic Acid Using Tributylamine Dissolved in n-Butyl Acetate
- Mathematical Modeling, Verification and Optimization for Catalytic Membrane Esterification Micro-reactor
- Metal-Foam-Supported Pd/Al2O3 Catalysts for Catalytic Combustion of Methane: Effect of Interaction between Support and Catalyst
- Simulation of Soot Size Distribution in a Counterflow Flame
- Study on Effective Radial Thermal Conductivity of Gas Flow through a Methanol Reactor
- Surface Functionalization and Magnetic Motion of Hydrophobic Magnetic Nanoparticles with Different Sizes
- Towards Production of γ-valerolactone via Hydrogenation of Aqueous Levulinic Acid
- Nitrogen Removal to Minimize Energy Consumption of the Two WWTPs Choutrana II and Menzel Bourguiba in Tunisia
