Periodically operated trickle-bed reactor for EAQs hydrogenation: Experiments and modeling

The influence of periodic operation on a consecutive reaction, the hydrogenation of 2-ethylanthraquinones (EAQs) over Pd/Al2O3Pd/Al2O3, on a laboratory-scale trickle-bed reactor (TBR) was studied. The effects of operating parameters including cycle period, split, pressure, temperature, and time-average flow rate on the performance were experimentally examined in comparison with the steady-state operation. The results showed that under the interested operating conditions the conversion and the selectivity improved by 3–21% and 1–12%, respectively. A dynamic model consisting of a set of partial differential equations (PDEs) was developed to simulate the periodic operation of TBR for EAQs hydrogenation. The PDEs were converted into a set of ordinary differential equations (ODEs) using the method of lines (MOL) and then numerically solved by the semi-implicit Runge–Kutta method. The developed model was verified by simulating the effect of cycle period and split on the conversion and the selectivity enhancement and compared with the experimental results. It was found that the model was reliable and satisfactory when the cycle period was less than 200 s.