Numerical evaluation on the intraparticle transfer in butylene oxidative dehydrogenation fixed-bed reactor over ferrite catalysts

•We incorporate a single particle model into a porous medium model.•The model is validated by evaluating its experiment and model comparison.•The role of intraparticle transfer in oxidative dehydrogenation fixed-bed is evaluated.•Coupling of a porous medium model and a single particle model.•Three catalytic and reactive operating zones in fixed-bed are demonstrated.

Ferrite catalysts with high intraparticle pore volume and surface area are frequently used in the oxidative dehydrogenation of butylene. Whether the non-inclusion of intraparticle transfer limitation in fixed-bed reactors for oxidative dehydrogenation over ferrite catalysts in previous studies is appropriate remains unclear. In this study, we attempt to verify this process using a multi-scale modeling technology. The multi-scale model consists of a porous medium model and a single particle model under the oxidative dehydrogenation condition. This model can predict the influences of intraparticle transfer on the main component distributions in reactors and demonstrate that the intraparticle transfer limitation is obvious.

Graphical abstractThe parameter distributions in the reactor ((a) the temperature contours, (b) the CO2 distribution contours, (c) the butylene distribution contours, and (d) the butadiene distribution contours).Figure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide