A NEW COCURRENT REACTOR FOR AMMONIA-SYNTHESIS

An alternative design for the industrial multitubular shell-side fixed -bed ammonia converter is presented. It can be ran either under cocurr ent or countercurrent cooling flow. The behaviour of these two alterna tives is compared with that of the existing fully-autothermal co- or c ountercurrent designs. The comparison among the four cooling schemes i s drawn by means of a heterogeneous two-dimensional mathematical model . The results indicate that the cocurrent alternative of the new desig n is capable of producing a significant increase in the ammonia yield. This higher value could also be obtained al lower maximum temperature s, which would lengthen the catalyst life.