Potentials of internally finned monoliths as a packing for multifunctionalreactors

The feasibility of internally finned monoliths (IFMs) as a packing for mult ifunctional reactors, such as catalytic distillation (CD) columns, is inves tigated by evaluating the most important design parameters. A comparison is made with two commonly used packings, catalyst bales and open cross-flow s tructures. The flexibility in design offers the possibility to optimize the IFMs according to the process requirements. Hydraulic and mass transfer pr operties of the IFMs are within the range of the conventional CD-packings. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.