Corrugated grid support for vertical boiling reactor
AssigneeScientific Design Company, Inc.
InventorsMohammad Ganjvar, Jiacheng Ni
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A baffle (i.e., tube support) for use in a shell-and-tube heat exchange reactor, such as, for example, an ethylene oxide (EO) reactor, is provided that accommodates reduced tube pitch, and thus more catalyst packed tubes can be inside the reactor. The baffle, which can be referred to herein as a corrugated grid support, includes a plurality of corrugated stainless steel strips which sit into each other and form a grid pattern having tube openings. Each tube opening is configured to permit a catalyst packed tube to be inserted therein, while allowing a sufficient open area along the shell side of the tube to permit coolant to flow through the reactor.
Claims18
A shell-and-tube heat exchange reactor comprising:
- a plurality of elongated tubes in which an inlet end of each of the elongated tubes is affixed to an inlet tube sheet and the outlet end of each of the elongated tubes is affixed to an outlet tube sheet;
- and
- at least one baffle positioned between the inlet tube sheet and the outlet tube sheet and configured to support each of the elongated tubes, wherein the at least one baffle comprises a plurality of corrugated stainless steel strips configured to form a grid pattern having tube openings, wherein each tube opening is spaced apart from an adjacent tube opening by a portion of one of the corrugated stainless steel strips and each tube opening permits one of the elongated tubes to pass there through, wherein the reactor is used in ethylene oxide (EO) production and each elongated tube is filled with a silver-based epoxidation catalyst.
An ethylene oxide reactor (EO) comprising:
- a plurality of elongated tubes in which an inlet end of each of the elongated tubes is affixed to an inlet tube sheet and the outlet end of each of the elongated tubes is affixed to an outlet tube sheet;
- at least one baffle positioned between the inlet tube sheet and the outlet tube sheet and configured to support each of the elongated tubes, wherein the at least one baffle comprises a plurality of corrugated stainless steel strips configured to form a grid pattern having tube openings, wherein each tube opening permits one of the elongated tubes to pass there through;
- and
- an inlet line for introducing a feed gas comprising 1% to 40% ethylene and 3% to 12% oxygen into the EO reactor, wherein the EO reactor is configured to operate at a gas hourly space velocity of 1500 to 10,000 h−1, a reactor inlet pressure of 1 MPa to 3 MPa, a coolant temperature of 180° C. to 315° C., an oxygen conversion level of 10-60%, and an EO production rate (work rate) of 100-350 kg EO/m3 catalyst/hr and a change in ethylene oxide concentration, ΔEO, of from about 1.5% to about 4.5%, and wherein each elongated tube is filled with a silver-based epoxidation catalyst comprising an alumina support, a catalytically effective amount of silver or a silver-containing compound, and a promoting amount of one or more promoters.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.