Reactor for non-isothermic reactions for the preparation of hydrocarbons

An apparatus for performing a chemical reaction between reactants in an elongated upright vessel having a vertical axis, a fluid inlet in the top of said vessel and a fluid outlet in the bottom of said vessel, which comprises:

• a. an upper tube plate situated in the upper portion of said vessel transverse to said vertical axis of said vessel and having means defining a plurality of hexagonal shaped openings having a honeycomb configuration;
• b. a perforate lower tube plate situated in the lower portion of said vessel transverse to said vertical axis of said vessel having means defining openings permeably selective for fluids and impermeable to solid particle material;
• c. a means for introducing, circulating and withdrawing a heat transfer medium intermediate said perforate upper tube plate and said lower tube plate with respective baffles situated intermediate said upper and said lower tube plate to provide that said heat transfer medium passes axially alongside a set of hereinafter defined parallel catalyst tubes and to prevent said heat transfer medium from penetration of either said upper tube plate or lower tube plate;
• d. a fluid collection zone situated at a lower elevation with respect to said lower tube plate and in communication with said fluid outlet;
• e. a plurality of staggered elongated parallel tubes receptive for solid particulate catalyst material in communication with said upper tube plate and said lower tube plate, wherein said catalyst is impermeable to passage through said lower tube plate and wherein said elongated parallel tubes are in attachment with said upper tube plate by said plurality of hexagonal openings situated in said upper tube plate said openings defined by:
• f. an upper part of each of said hexagonal opening substantially concentric with a lower part of said opening with said upper part diverging in an upward direction to an upper end of said opening to form a plurality of hexagonal honeycomb openings having edges contiguous to and adjacent to one another to define said honeycomb configuration in said upper tube plate to insure that fluid egressing from said surmounted spray nozzles of said fluid introduction zone flows directly downward into said respective parallel tube with deminimis sideflow of said fluid;
• and
• g. a fluid-introduction zone situated at a higher elevation with respect to said upper tube plate having a fluid introductory conduit containing a plurality of fluid spray nozzles situated in axial alignment with said hexagonal openings and designed to emit a spray pattern for spray of said inlet fluid in a hexagonal configuration substantially congruent to said honeycomb configuration within said upper tube plate to provide passage directly downward into said hexagonal openings in said upper plate and thereby uniform distribution of said inlet fluid over said upper tube plate and to thereby inhibit sideward flow of said inlet fluid over said upper tube plated.