Reactor for oxidative coupling of methane

A method of carrying out autothermal oxidative coupling of methane (OCM) comprising:

• introducing one or more flowing feed gases comprising methane and oxygen gas into an adiabatic reactor as a flowing mixture, the reactor comprising:
• a reactor vessel that defines a reactor vessel interior, wherein the reactor vessel comprises opposite ends and a central longitudinal axis that extends between the opposite ends;
• a reactor inlet for introducing one or more flowing feed gases comprising methane and oxygen gas into the interior of the reactor vessel;
• a catalyst bed assembly positioned within the reactor vessel interior having at least one catalyst bed containing a layer of OCM catalyst, wherein (i) the catalyst bed assembly divides the reactor vessel interior into an upstream zone and a downstream zone, (ii) the at least one catalyst bed of the catalyst bed assembly having an upstream face for receiving the flowing mixture from the upstream zone, and (iii) the upstream face of the at least one catalyst bed of the catalyst bed assembly is configured to have a total area that exceeds the largest transverse cross-sectional area of the interior of the reactor vessel that is perpendicular to the central longitudinal axis of the reactor vessel;
• and
• a reactor outlet located downstream from the catalyst bed assembly that is in fluid communication with the downstream zone for removing reaction products from the reactor;
• passing the flowing mixture from the upstream zone to the downstream zone so that any portion of the flowing mixture flows through only a single catalyst bed of the catalyst bed assembly, wherein methane and oxygen gas of the flowing mixture contact the OCM catalyst of the at least one catalyst bed to undergo an auto-thermal OCM reaction to form methane oxidative coupling reaction products that are received in the downstream zone;
• and
• removing the reaction products from the downstream zone through the reactor outlet.