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Local hydrodynamics investigation of industrial scaled‐down upflow moving‐bed hydrotreater reactor using a two‐tip optical probe
Author(s) -
Alexander Vineet,
Albazzaz Hamza,
AlDahhan Muthanna
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
the canadian journal of chemical engineering
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.404
H-Index - 67
eISSN - 1939-019X
pISSN - 0008-4034
DOI - 10.1002/cjce.24013
Subject(s) - mechanics , materials science , fluidized bed , flow (mathematics) , economies of agglomeration , two phase flow , packed bed , environmental science , fluidized bed combustion , waste management , chromatography , chemistry , chemical engineering , engineering , physics
Upflow moving‐bed hydrotreater (MBR) is used in refineries as a guard reactor to a fixed‐bed residual desulfurization reactor. Uniform local flow distribution in these reactors is critical to avoid issues like coking, catalyst agglomeration, and hotspots in the catalyst bed. Local maldistribution is investigated on a scaled‐down MBR at a scaled‐down industrial flow condition using an experimental technique called two‐tip optical probe (TTOP), which gives local phase saturations, phase velocities, backmixing, and maldistribution at voids of a two‐phase‐flow packed bed. TTOP implemented at local radial/axial locations indicates highly fluctuating phase saturations inside the catalyst bed, with zones having low‐to‐high gas or liquid saturations, indicating severe local maldistribution. The local phase backmixing and local maldistribution is more on the upper part of the bed.