Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research (Iraqi)

Basra University for Oil and Gas (BUOG)

Oil & Gas Engineering College
Chemical Engineering and Oil Refining Department

Subject: Overview of catalytic reactor design

By: sajad jasm Muhammed

Date: 2020-07-08
Catalyst

1- Introduction
A catalyst is a substance that affects the rate of a reaction but emerges from the process
unchanged. A catalyst usually changes a reaction rate by promoting a different molecular path
(“mechanism”) for the reaction. A Catalyst speeds up a reaction, although strictly speaking, a
catalyst can either accelerate or slow the formation of a particular product species. A catalyst
changes only the rate of a reaction; it does not affect the equilibrium. Types of reaction for
catalysts divide into two types:

a. heterogeneous catalytic reaction: involves more than one phase; usually the catalyst is
a solid and the reactants and products are in liquid or gaseous form.
b. homogeneous catalytic reaction: involves one phase.

2- Types of catalyst

2.1-Unsupported metals
Few industrial catalysts are used in the form of unsupported metals. Usually a catalytic process
requires a large metal surface area to minimize the catalyst requirements. However, there are
some processes in which the rate of reaction per unit area of surface is so fast that a small active
metal area is sufficient. Unsupported metals can be found in a variety of forms: wires, foils,
gauzes, blacks, powders and skeletal (Raney) species.

2.2- Fused catalyst

The manufacture of catalysts by the fusion of oxides is not extensively used. The product of
fusion has negligible surface area and has to acquire this in catalyst activation by, for example,
reduction. The most important catalyst produced in this manner is the ammonia synthesis
catalyst. This catalyst is manufactured by the fusion of magnetite together with appropriate
promoters. Obviously conventional forming techniques are not possible with fused catalysts
and the material is cast, crushed and graded to an appropriate dimension range.

2.3- Oxide catalyst

Oxide catalysts can be conveniently divided into two general categories: electrical insulators
or semiconductors.

The insulators are materials where the cationic species has a single valence state. Examples of
such insulating oxides include magnesium oxide, aluminum oxide, silicon dioxide and zeolites
(aluminosilicates). These materials find most use as solid acids or bases and as supports for
other catalytically active species.

The semiconductor oxides are materials in which the metallic species is relatively easily cycled
between two valence states. This can be between two different oxidation states as in:

Fe2O3 Fe3O4

or the conversion between the positive ion and the neutral metal, as with the more easily
reduced oxides such as ZnO and CdO. The semiconductor oxides are most commonly used in
selective oxidation reactions. Examples of reactions which can be catalyzed by oxides are
shown in Table:

2.4- Supported Catalysts

Catalytic species are often dispersed over support materials. The primary aim of applying a
catalytically active component to a support is to improve dispersion significantly and produce
a highly active material. The early concept of a support or carrier was as an inert substance that
provided a means of spreading out an expensive catalyst ingredient, such as a precious metal,
in order to achieve a greater effective utilization of the metal compared with a bulk metal
system, for example a platinum black. However, with base metal catalysts the use of the support
is often primarily aimed at achieving improved catalyst stability. This can be achieved by a
suitable interaction of the active component with the support. The choice of support is therefore
of crucial importance for the design of a catalyst. The desirable physical and chemical
characteristics to be considered in the choice of a support are listed in Table:

3- Types of Catalyst Reactor

reactors can be divided into two general classes: fixed bed and fluidized or slurry bed. In a
fixed bed reactor, the catalyst remains stationary and the reactants are passed through the
catalyst. In the fluidized and slurry reactors both the catalyst and reacting medium move. Fixed
bed reactors usually require catalysts whose activity and selectivity remain stable for a
considerable time, typically in the order of years. Catalysts with a shorter life of, for example,
months may be used in a fixed bed but will then probably have to withstand multiple
regeneration. Fluid bed reactors are often used with rapidly deactivating catalyst and allow
either continuous replacement or regeneration to be performed.
References:

1-J.M.Winterbottom” Reactor Design for Chemical Engineers”

2- H. Scott Fogler “Elements of Chemical Reaction Engineering” fifth edition.