Modelling of Katapak reactor for hydrogenation of anthraquinones

Modelling of a catalytic hydrogenation reactor is described. The catalyst, Pd on porous granules, was installed in the reactor in KATAPAK elements, pr oduced by Sulzer GmbH. The reactor was used to hydrogenate anthraquinone co mpounds, dissolved in an organic solvent. This reaction is used in the prod uction of hydrogen peroxide. Because of complex geometry and many simultane ous phenomena taking place in the reactor, any detailed modelling approach tends to lead to a large number of unknown parameters. To reach acceptable reliability, the main phenomena in the reactor were studied separately in s everal mock-up experiments. The models of these subsystems were combined an d the resulting complete reactor model was validated by experimentation wit h a full-scale reactor. A certain part of the model was based on CFD calcul ations. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.