THE CATALYTIC OXIDATIVE COUPLING OF METHANE .1. COMPARISON OF EXPERIMENTAL PERFORMANCE DATA FROM VARIOUS TYPES OF REACTOR

The methane oxidative coupling performance of a fixed-bed reactor was successfully translated to a bubbling fluidised-bed reactor and this r eaction mode was superior to spouted-bed, inclined and mechanically-ag itated fluidised-bed units. Also, a two-stage bubbling fluidised-bed r eactor with inter-stage addition of oxygen had the same performance as the single-stage unit, for the same total oxygen input, over a wide r ange of operating conditions. Overall the bubbling fluidised-bed is pr eferred, catalytic reactions dominate over non-catalytic gas phase rea ctions in determining the reactor performance, the gas phase exhibited plug-flow behaviour and the performance was independent of the gas ph ase oxygen partial pressure for a given oxygen input. The best hydroca rbon yield achieved in this study was 19.4%.