The effects of kinetics, hydrodynamics and feed conditions on methane coupling using fluidized bed reactor

A previously developed model describing bubbling fluidized bed reactors is used in this investigation to study the effect of various important hydrody namic, operating and design parameters on the performance of a large scale fluidized bed reactor used in oxidative coupling of methane. Three kinetic schemes obtained from the literature have been used in this study. The mode l predicted fairly well the Experimental results reported recently under di fferent reaction conditions. The simulation results revealed that increasin g the ratio of methane to oxygen in the feed leads to lower methane convers ion hut higher Ct selectivity. As the ratio is decreased the system loses i ts fixed-point stability to a periodic stability. Higher methane conversion and product selectivity are obtained upon decreasing the feed how rate and particle diameter. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.