CFD Studies on Efficacy of Flow Modulation in a Hydrotreating Trickle-Bed Reactor
2019
Dasgupta, Soumendu | Atta, Arnab
Hydrodesulfurization (HDS), a pivotal process for sulfur removal that is essential in deep processing of crude oil, is typically carried out in steady-state trickle-bed reactors (TBRs). Being familiar with such an operation, researchers are now investigating the benefits of flow modulation strategies in TBRs for improved conversion efficiency. In this work, a computational fluid dynamics model of a hydrotreating TBR is developed to delineate the efficacy of flow modulation in a HDS reaction system. Fast and slow modes of on–off and min–max flow modulations with different split ratios are compared with time-averaged continuous operation for reaction conversion. On–off and min–max flows resulted in relative improvement in conversion by 36 and 19%, respectively. Combined analysis of reaction conversion improvement along with an oscillating pressure drop revealed the efficacy of fast mode on–off strategy in maximum conversion of the considered system at the expense of lower pressure drop undulations.
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