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Kinetics and Transport Phenomena in Multi-phase Reactors

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The Chemical Reactor from Laboratory to Industrial Plant

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Abstract

This chapter is dedicated to the topic of multi-phase reactors, characterized by reactions occurring in a liquid phase in which one or more of the reactants, coming from another gaseous or liquid phase, is dissolved. The catalyst promoting the reaction can be a component of the reacting mixture (e.g., gas–liquid reactors), a solid wetted by liquid phase (gas–liquid–solid reactors), or, more seldom, dissolved in another immiscible liquid (liquid–liquid or gas–liquid–liquid reactors). Modeling of such systems is challenging because chemical, physical, and fluid dynamic factors are all involved, sometimes giving place to peculiar phenomena. Occurrence of a reaction in the liquid phase containing the catalyst determines the occurrence of gradients at the interfaces, followed by a mass-transfer flow across the interface. The main theories presented in this chapter are two-film theory, surface renewal theory, and penetration theory. Examples presented in this chapter include the-oxidation of tetra-hydro-anthraquinol (THEAQH2) and o-cresol alkylation. The Matlab code associated with these examples is available online.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Eurochem Engineering s.r.l., Milan, Italy

    Elio Santacesaria

  2. Dipartimento di Scienze Chimiche, Complesso di Monte Sant’Angelo, University of Naples Federico II, Naples, Italy

    Riccardo Tesser

Authors
  1. Elio Santacesaria
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  2. Riccardo Tesser
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Correspondence to Elio Santacesaria .

7.1 Electronic Supplementary Material

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Santacesaria, E., Tesser, R. (2018). Kinetics and Transport Phenomena in Multi-phase Reactors. In: The Chemical Reactor from Laboratory to Industrial Plant. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-97439-2_7

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