Catalytic gas synthesis apparatus

In an exothermic catalytic reactor having at least two catalytic reactor beds arranged for sequential flow of a gas therethrough and for partial reaction of said gas in each said catalytic reactor bed;

• having gas supply means for introducing a gas feedstream to the uppermost upstream catalytic reactor bed;
• having means for feeding a gas effluent from each sequentially non-terminal said catalytic reactor beds as a gas feed to each sequentially next said catalytic reactor bed;
• having interbed cooling means for cooling said gas effluent from each catalytic reactor bed to remove heat therefrom prior to passing said gas effluent to the sequentially next said catalytic reactor bed;
• and having means for removing said gaesous effluent from the sequentially last of said catalytic reactor beds as a gas product, the improvement wherein said reactor additionally comprises at least one effective reheat exchange means constructed and arranged for recovering excess or waste heat whereby at least a portion of said gas product is heated by indirect heat exchange with a heating fluid comprising at least a portion of said gas effluent from at least one other of said catalytic reactor beds prior to withdrawal of said product gas from said reactor.

In an exothermic catalytic reactor having at least two catalytic reactor beds arranged for sequential flow of a gas therethrough and for partial reaction of said gas therein;

• having gas supply means for introducing a gas feedstream to the uppermost upstream said catalytic reactor bed;
• having means for feeding a gas effluent from each sequentially non-terminal said catalytic reactor bed as a gas feed to each sequentially next said catalytic reactor bed;
• having interbed gas cooling means for cooling said gas effluent from each catalytic reactor bed to remove heat therefrom prior to passing said gas effluent to the sequentially next said catalytic reactor bed;
• and having means for removing said gas effluent from the sequentially terminal said catalytic reactor bed as a gas product, the improvement wherein said reactor additionally comprises at least one effective reheat exchange means constructed and arranged for optimizing thermo-kinetically said exothermic catalytic reactor whereby at least a portion of said gas effluent from said last catalytic reactor bed is heated by indirect heat exchange with a heating fluid comprising at least a portion of said gas effluent from at least one other of said catalytic reactor beds prior to withdrawal of said product gas from said reactor.

In an exothermic catalytic reactor having at least two catalytic reactor beds arranged for sequential flow of a gas therethrough and for partial reaction of said gas therein;

• having gas supply means for introducing a gas feedstream to said catalytic reactor bed which is uppermost upstream;
• having means for feeding a gas effluent from each sequentially non-terminal said catalytic reactor bed as a gas feed to each sequentially next catalytic reactor bed;
• having interbed gas cooling means for cooling said gas effluent from each said catalytic reactor bed to remove heat therefrom prior to passing said gas effluent to the sequentially next said catalytic reactor bed;
• and having means for removing said gas effluent from the sequentially terminal said catalytic reactor bed as a gas product, the improvement wherein said reactor additionally comprises at least one effective reheat exchange means constructed and arranged for recovering excess or waste heat and for optimizing thermo-kinetically said exothermic catalytic reactor whereby at least a portion of said gas effluent from last said catalytic reactor bed is heated by indirect heat exchange with a heating fluid comprising at least a portion of said gas effluent from at least one other of said catalytic reactor beds prior to withdrawal of said gas product from said exothermic catalytic reactor.