Tube bundle reactor

A tube bundle reactor for carrying out catalytic gas phase reactions, comprising:

• a bundle of catalyst-filled reaction tubes, which are flowed through by a process gas with a predetermined operating pressure and with a predetermined operating temperature, which during normal operation either has an explosive gas composition or a gas composition which during the normal operation is non-explosive and in a non-operational case, has an explosive gas composition;
• a gas-inlet-side tube base, which is tightly connected to gas-inlet-side ends of the reaction tubes and through which the reaction tubes lead into a gas inlet hood,
• wherein the gas inlet hood spans and is tightly connected to the gas-inlet-side tube base;
• a gas inlet line, which leads into the gas inlet hood into which it conducts a gas;
• a throttle plate, which upstream of the gas-inlet-side tube base, is arranged at a predetermined distance from the gas-inlet-side tube base and at its circumferential edge is connected to the gas inlet hood and thus forms an intermediate space between the throttle plate and the gas-inlet-side tube base and comprises a predetermined number of throttle openings,
• wherein all parts of the tube bundle reactor and the gas inlet line directly or indirectly exposed to an explosion pressure are designed correspondingly resistant in terms of strength,
• wherein
• the gas inlet line is configured to introduce explosive process gas into the gas inlet hood and the upstream end of the gas inlet line is terminated by a limit, so that between the limit and the throttle plate a gas inlet space is formed, and
• the throttle openings have a narrowest flow cross-section and are arranged in a number with which
• during normal operation, a sub-critical pressure ratio on the throttle plate between intermediate space and gas inlet space materialises and
• with which in event of an explosion upon a pressure in the gas inlet space which is maximally as high as a maximum static explosion pressure of the process gas and higher than the operating pressure during normal operation, and a pressure materialising in these conditions in the intermediate space between throttle plate and gas-inlet-side tube base a critical pressure ratio on the throttle plate materialises, so that
• as result of gas inflow from the throttle plate and of gas outflow to the reaction tubes a predetermined pressure in the intermediate space between throttle plate and tube base is not exceeded.