Reaction Vessel for Liquid Phase Catalytic Pyrolysis of Polymers
OwnerVance E. McClureinventor
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Abstract
An improved reactor vessel for processing (recycling and upcycling) of plastics includes a shear plate assembly disposed on a rotatable shaft concentrically disposed within a cylindrical reactor vessel. The shear plates are spaced from the vessel wall to generate a predetermined strain rate between the shear plate and the inner wall via Couette flow, enhancing efficiency of the reaction.
Claims20
A reactor for liquid phase catalytic pyrolysis of polymers in a slurry of polymeric particles, solvent oil, and a catalyst, the reactor vessel comprising:
- a cylindrical reactor barrel having an inlet, an outlet, a top plate, a bottom plate and an inner wall configured for transferring heat to the slurry;
- a central shaft supported concentrically and rotatably between the top plate and the bottom plate;
- a drive motor configured for driving rotation of the central shaft;
- at least one arm set extending radially from the central shaft, each arm of the at least one arm set having a distal end and a compressible spring assembly configured to radially bias the distal end toward the inner wall;
- and
- a shear plate supported perpendicularly on the distal end of each arm, the shear plate having a plate surface with a plate length and a plate area, the plate surface extending parallel to the inner wall to define a shear gap between the plate surface and the inner wall, wherein the shear gap is dimensioned to induce viscous drag at a predetermined strain rate within the slurry of approximately 102 to 103 per second between the plate surface and the inner wall.
An improved reactor for liquid phase catalytic pyrolysis of polymers in a slurry of polymer particles, solvent oil, and a catalyst, the improvement comprising a shear plate assembly disposed on a rotatable shaft concentrically disposed within a cylindrical reactor vessel, the shear plate assembly comprising a shear plate disposed perpendicularly on an arm extending radially from the shaft, parallel to and at a spacing from an inner vessel wall surface to define a shear gap between a shear plate surface and an inner wall of the reactor, wherein the shear gap is dimensioned to induce viscous drag within the slurry between the plate surface and the inner wall at a strain rate of approximately 102 to 103 per second when the shear plate and arms rotate within the vessel.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.