Chemical reactor analysis and design

902 Pages·2011·11.997 MB·English

by  Gilbert F Froment, Juray De Wilde, Kenneth B Bischoff

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Chemical Reactor
Analysis and Design
3rd Edition

Gilbert F. Froment
Texas A&M University
†
Kenneth B. Bischoff
University of Delaware
Juray De Wilde
Université Catholique de Louvain, Belgium

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Froment, Gilbert F.
Chemical reactor analysis and design. -- 3rd ed. / Gilbert Froment, Juray DeWilde, and Kenneth
Bischoff.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-470-56541-4 (cloth)
1. Chemical reactors. 2. Chemical reactions. 3. Chemical engineering. I. DeWilde, Juray. II. Bischoff,
Kenneth B. III. Title.
TP157.F76 2011
660'.2832--dc22
2010014481

Printed in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
From Gilbert to Mia.
From Juray, to my brother Tibor, to Junior and Mathieu.
Chemical Reactor Analysis and Design
Gilbert F. Froment, Texas A&M University; K.B. Bischoff†, University of
Delaware; Juray De Wilde, Université Catholique de Louvain.

This is the Third Edition of Chemical Reactor Analysis and Design. The first
was published by Wiley in 1979 and the second, after a substantial revision, in
1990. When we undertook the third edition in 2008, eighteen years had elapsed
since the second edition. This is a significant period of time during which
chemical reaction engineering has considerably evolved. The tremendous growth
of computer power and the easy access to it has significantly contributed to a
more comprehensive description of phenomena, operations and equipment, thus
enabling the development and application of more fundamental and presumably
more accurate models. Modern chemical reaction engineering courses should
reflect this evolution towards a more scientific approach. We have been
permanently aware of these trends during the elaboration of the present edition
and have largely rewritten the complete text. The more fundamental approach
has not distracted us, however, from the emphasis on the real world of chemical
reaction engineering, one of the main objectives and strengths of the first edition
already, widely recognized all over the world.
We have maintained the structure of the previous editions, dividing the
content into two parts. The first part deals with the kinetics of phenomena that
are important in reaction engineering: reaction kinetics, both “homogeneous” —
in a single phase — and “heterogeneous,” involving a gas- and a liquid- or solid
phase. The mechanism of the reactions has been accounted for in greater detail
than previously, in an effort to be more realistic, but also more reliable in their
kinetic modeling e.g., in thermal cracking, polymerization, hydrocarbon
processing and bio-processes. The field of reaction kinetics has substantially
progressed by the growing availability through commercial software of quantum
chemical methods. Students of chemical reaction engineering can no longer
ignore their potential and they should be taught how to apply them meaningfully
to real processes. Chapters 1, 2 and 3 attempt to do that. In the heterogeneous
reaction case, heat and mass transfer phenomena at the interface and inside the
reaction phase have to be considered. In modeling these the internal structure of
the catalyst has been given more emphasis, starting from insight provided from
well developed characterization tools and using advanced techniques like Monte
Carlo simulation, Percolation theory and Effective Medium Approximation. This
approach is further applied in Chapter 4 on gas-solid reactions and Chapter 5 on
catalyst deactivation. The insertion of more realistic kinetics into structure
models of the catalyst has also allowed accounting for the role of catalyst
deactivation by coke formation in important commercial hydrocarbon conversion
processes, like butene dehydrogenation, steam reforming of natural gas and the
catalytic cracking of vacuum gas oil. Chapter 6 on gas-liquid kinetics has
retained its previous structure.
Part II addresses the chemical reactor itself, inserting the kinetic aspects
of Part I into the modeling and simulation of the reactor operation. Chapter 7
introduces the fundamental mass-, energy- and momentum balances. The
Chapters 8, 9, 10 and 11, dealing with the basic types, like the batch, semi-batch,
continuous flow reactor with complete mixing and the tubular reactor, filled or
not with solid catalyst, have been maintained, of course, and also their strong ties
to industrial processes. Deviations of what was previously called “ideal “ models
and behavior are dealt with along entirely new lines, made possible by the
progress of CFD — computational fluid dynamics — also made available by
commercial software. This approach is introduced already in Chapter 11 on fixed
bed reactors and consistently applied in Chapter 12, leading to a unified and
structured approach of flow, residence time and conversion in the variety of
reactors encountered in industrial practice. This is another field that has not yet
received sufficient attention in chemical engineering curricula. Substantial
progress and a growing number of applications can be expected in the coming
years. It is illustrated also in Chapter 13 on fluidized- and transport bed reactors,
that enters into greater details than before on the catalytic cracking of heavy oil
fractions and reports on simulations based upon computational fluid dynamics.
A book like this has to show the path and prepare the future. We should not look
down, however, upon the correlations derived from experimentation and
collected by the profession over the years, be they limited in their range of
application. There is no way that these could be refined or completely replaced
yet by CFD application only. Unfortunately, the computational effort involved in
the use of CFD in combination with reaction and transport phenomena
throughout the entire reactor is overwhelming and its routine-like application to
real, practical cases not for the immediate future. Chapter 14 on multiphase
reactors is evidence for this and illustrates sound and proved engineering
practice.
Finally, we want to remember Ken Bischoff, who deceased in July 2007
and could not participate in this third edition.

Gilbert F. Froment Juray De Wilde
Texas A & M University Université Catholique de Louvain
December 2009
About the Authors

G.F. Froment

Gilbert F. Froment received his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the
University of Gent, Belgium, in 1957. He did post-doctoral work at the
University of Darmstadt in Germany and the University of Wisconsin. In 1968 he
became a full professor of Chemical Engineering in Gent and launched the
“Laboratorium voor Petrochemische Techniek” that became world famous. His
scientific work centered on fixed bed reactor modeling, kinetic modeling,
catalyst deactivation and thermal cracking for olefins production. In 1998 he
joined the Chemical Engineering Department of Texas A & M University as a
Research Professor. He has directed the work of 68 Ph.D students and published
350 scientific papers in international journals. He presented more than 320
seminars in universities and at international symposia all over the world. The
book Chemical Reactor Analysis and Design (with K.B. Bischoff) is used
worldwide in graduate courses and industrial research groups and was translated
into Chinese. He has been on the editorial board of the major chemical
engineering journals. In his present position, at Texas A & M University, Dr.
Froment directs the research of a group of Ph.D students and post-docs on
Chemical Reaction Engineering aspects of Hydrocarbon Processing in the
Petroleum and Petrochemical Industry, more particularly on the kinetic modeling
of complex processes like hydrocracking and hydrotreatment, catalytic cracking,
catalytic reforming, methanol-to-olefins, solid acid alkylation, thermal cracking,
using single event kinetics, a concept that he launched in the eighties. He
received the prestigious R.H. Wilhelm Award for Chemical Reaction
Engineering from the A.I.Ch.E. in 1978, the first Villermaux-Medal from the
European Federation of Chemical Engineering in 1999 and the 3-yearly
Amundson Award of ISCRE in 2007.
G.F. Froment is a Doctor Honoris Causa of the Technion, Haifa, Israel
(1985), of the University of Nancy, France (2001) and an Honorary Professor of
the Universidad Nacional de Salta (Argentina). He is a member of the Belgian
Academy of Science (1984), the Belgian Academy of Overseas Science (1977), a
Foreign Associate of the United States National Academy of Engineering (1999)
and a member of the Texas Academy of Medicine, Science and Engineering
(2003). He was a member of the Scientific Council of the French Petroleum
Institute (1989-1997), of the Technological Council of Rhône-Poulenc (1988-
1997) and has intensively consulted for the world’s major petroleum and
(petro)chemical companies.
K.B. Bischoff †

Kenneth B. Bischoff was the Unidel Professor of Biomedical and Chemical
Engineering and past Chairman, Department of Chemical Engineering at the
University of Delaware. Previously he was Acting Director for the Center for
Catalytic Science and Technology. He was the Walter R. Read Professor of
Engineering and Director of the School of Chemical Engineering at Cornell
University and had been on the faculties of the Universities of Maryland and
Texas (Austin), as well as a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Gent,
Belgium. He had served as a consultant for Exxon Research and Engineering
Company, General Foods Company, the National Institutes of Health, W. R.
Grace company, Koppers Company, E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., Inc.,
and Westvaco Co., and was a registered professional engineer in the State of
Texas. His research interests were in the areas of chemical reaction
engineering and applications to pharmacology and toxicology, resulting in
more than 100 journal articles and two textbooks: Process Analysis and
Simulation (with D.M. Himmelblau) (1968); and Chemical Reactor Analysis and
Design, (with G.F. Froment) (1979). He was elected to the National Academy
of Engineering in 1988, and he received the 1972 Ebert Prize of the
Academy of Pharmaceutical Sciences, the 1976 Professional Progress
Award, the 1982 Institute Lecture Award, the 1982 Food, Pharmaceutical
and Bioengineering Division Award, and the 1987 R. H. Wilhelm Award. In
1987 he was named a Fellow of the American Institute of Chemical
Engineers. He was a Fellow of AAAS since 1980. Editorial boards on which
he had served include J. Pharmacokinetics and Biopharmaceutics, from 1972
on; and ACS Advances in Chemistry Series, 1974 to 1981. In 1981 he became
an Associate Editor of Advances in Chemical Engineering,
Dr. Bischoff passed away in 2007.

J. De Wilde

Juray De Wilde received his Ph.D in Chemical Engineering from the Ghent
University, Belgium, in 2001. He did post-doctoral work at the Ghent University
and was post-doc research associate at the Chemical Engineering Department of
Princeton University, NJ. In 2005 he became professor of Chemical Engineering
at the Université catholique de Louvain, Belgium, where he received his tenure
in 2008. Dr. De Wilde published more than 30 papers in international journals
and served as a member of scientific committees and as a consultant for
numerous companies, including Total Petrochemicals, Tribute Creations, Dow
Corning, PVS Chemicals, The Catalyst Group, Nanotech-Nanopole, Certech,
etc.. His research interests and expertise include dynamic methods for catalytic
kinetics, the modeling and simulation of gas-solid flows, and process
intensification, in particular for fluidized bed processes. With A. de Broqueville,
he developed the rotating fluidized bed in a static geometry and the rotating
chimney technologies.