DEACTIVATING CATALYST

OUTLINE

FOULING/REGENERATION

MECHANISM OF CATALYST
DEACTIVATION
RATE AND PERFORMANCE
EQUATION
RATE EQUATION
FROMEXPERIMENT
DESIGN
 FOULING/REGENERATION
DEFINITION
Process where the deactivation is rapid and caused
by deposition and physical blocking of the surface
Regeneration Removal of the solid blocking
Poisoning is a process where the catalysts
surface is slowly modified by chemisorption on
the active sites by materials which are not
easily removed
reactivation-Restoration of activity
Reversible adsorption -change in operating
conditions may be sufficient to reactivate the
catalyst
Irreversible reactivation permanent
poisoning. This may require a chemical
retreatment of the surface or a complete
replacement of the spent catalyst
Types of deactivation
Uniform- for all sites
Selective-more active sites those which supply
most of the catalyst activity, are preferentially
attacked and deactivated
 FACTORS AFFECTING THE
DEACTIVATION OF A POROUS
CATALYST PELLET
1. the actual decay reactions
2. the presence or absence of pore
diffusion slowdown
3. the way poisons act on the surface

Decay Reactions occur in 4 ways

1. The reactant may produce a side product
which deposits on and deactivates the surface
called parallel deactivation.
2. the reaction product may decompose or react
further to produce a material which then
deposits on and deactivates the surface called
series deactivation
3. an impurity in the feed may deposit on and
deactivate the surface called side-by side
deactivation
4. the structural modification or sintering of the
catalyst surface caused by exposure of the
catalyst to extreme conditions. This type of
decay is dependent on the time that the catalyst
spends in the high temperature environment,
and since it is unaffected by the materials in the
gas stream call independent deactivation
SIDE BY SIDE DEACTIVATION
PARALLEL DEACTIVATION:
SERIES DEACTIVATION
SIDE-BY-SIDE
DEACTIVATION
PORE DIFFUSION
For a pellet, pore diffusion may strongly
influence the progress of catalyst decay
reactant may either be evenly
distributed throughout the pellet (M, <
0.4 and = 1)
may be found close to the exterior
surface (M, > 4 and < 1)
Thus the poison will be deposited in a
like manner-uniformly for no pore
resistance, and at the exterior for strong
pore resistance
shell model for poisoning- shell thickens
with time and the deactivation front
moves inward where the extreme of very
strong diffusional resistance a thin shell
at the outside of the pellet becomes
poisoned
ADDITIONAL FACTORS
INFLUENCING DECAY
pore mouth blocking by deposited
solid
Equilibrium

reversible poisoning where some

activity always remains
the action of regeneration (this often
leaves catalyst with an active
exterior but inactive core
THE RATE AND
PERFORMANCE EQUATIONS
THE ACTIVITY OF A CATALYST
PELLET AT ANY TIME IS DEFINED AS
IN TERMS OF THE FLUID BATHING THE
PELLET THE RATE OF REACTION OF A
SHOULD BE OF THE FOLLOWING FORM
THE RATE AT WHICH THE
CATALYST PELLET
DEACTIVATES MAY BE WRITTEN
NTH-ORDER KINETICS,
ARRHENIUS TEMPERATURE
DEPENDENCY, AND ISOTHERMAL
CONDITIONS
FOR DEACTIVATION WHICH IN GENERAL
IS DEPENDENT ON THE CONCENTRATION
OF GAS PHASE SPECIES
WHERE D IS THE ORDER OF
DEACTIVATION, M MEASURES THE
CONCENTRATION DEPENDENCY
AND ED IS THE ACTIVATION ENERGY OR
TEMPERATURE DEPENDENCY OF THE
DEACTIVATION.
FOR DIFFERENT DECAY
REACTIONS
FOR DIFFERENT DECAY
REACTIONS
THE RATE EQUATION FROM
EXPERIMENT