초록 ▼

Trickle bed reactors are prone to channelling, flooding, and similar flow problems. It has been found that these problems can be avoided by the use of a microporous membrane to separate a reactant fluid phase from a catalysis fluid phase surrounding a catalyst bed. An advantage of such a reactor is

Trickle bed reactors are prone to channelling, flooding, and similar flow problems. It has been found that these problems can be avoided by the use of a microporous membrane to separate a reactant fluid phase from a catalysis fluid phase surrounding a catalyst bed. An advantage of such a reactor is that the fluid flows can be separately controlled. An apparatus useful as a trickle bed reactor can include a plurality of microporous hollow fibers arranged in a shell-and-tube configuration within a housing. Such an apparatus is operated with a reactant fluid phase flowing through the fibers and with a catalyst bed on the shell-side of the arrangement.

대표청구항 ▼

A catalytic reaction process comprising the steps of: (a) confining a reactant fluid containing a reactant species, in a reactant fluid zone; (b) confining a catalysis fluid, which is relatively immiscible in the reactant fluid, and a catalyst in a catalysis fluid zone; (c) establishing a boundary l

A catalytic reaction process comprising the steps of: (a) confining a reactant fluid containing a reactant species, in a reactant fluid zone; (b) confining a catalysis fluid, which is relatively immiscible in the reactant fluid, and a catalyst in a catalysis fluid zone; (c) establishing a boundary layer between said reactant and catalysis fluids by separating the fluids using a hollow fiber microporous membrane; and (d) forming a reaction product by allowing the reactant species to diffuse through the pores of the hollow fiber microporous membrane to the catalyst across said boundary layer, wherein said step of separating the reactant and catalysis fluids includes the steps of: (i) providing a hollow fiber microporous membrane which is compatible with and spontaneously wettable by that one of said reactant and catalysis fluids in which said reactant species is more soluble, and (ii) minimizing resistance to diffusion of said reactant species through the pores of the hollow fiber microporous membrane to the catalyst by allowing said one fluid to spontaneously wet said membrane so that said one of said reactant and catalysis fluids fills the pores of said hollow fiber microporous membrane.