Steady State Simulation of a Multi-Bed Adiabatic Reactor for Methanol Production

Abstract

A one dimensional heterogeneous model accounting for intraparticle diffusion limitations is developed for methanol production from carbon oxides and hydrogen. The model and the kinetics used fit very will industrial data. The effect of the CO2/CO, (C02 + CO)/H2 mole ratios, inlet temperature, reaction pressure, size of the catalyst particle and the tortuosity factor on the reactor performance are investigated. The study indicates that the methanol reactor operation is highly sensitive to variations in the temperature.