Hydrogen-heavy Hydrocarbon Phase Equilibria and Modeling of a Recirculation Reactor�

Abstract

Four aspects of a Berty reactor were studied in this work. a - The flow uniformity of a vapor-liquid mixture in the reactor was studied by vi$ual observation. A uniform flow of the two-phase mixture could be obtained only when the reactor is operated in a batch mode. In the continuous flow mode a uniform flow pattern inside the reactor could not be observed even at the highest magnedrive speed. b - The reactor liquid holdup was measured under different operating conditions in both transient and steady state modes and the results were used to develop correlations to predict the liquid holdup in a Berty reactor. c - A computer program was developed to predict the phase behavior of a multicomponent hydrogen-heavy hydrocarbon system. The binary experimental data were used to obtain the interaction parameters. The validity of the results and that of the mixing rule was checked against experimental ternary data. The results were extended to predict the phase behavior of a multicomponent system, specifically that of hydrogenjTetralinjcis-decalin jtrans-decalin mixture. d - The reactor startup at elevated temperatures and pressures was modeled using a transient material balance combined with the liquid holdup correlations and phase equilibrium calculation results. Overall a technique was developed to simulate the unsteady state behavior of a type reactor at high temperatures and pressures.