Chemical Engineering Research & Design, Vol.73, No.2, 130-135, 1995
The Influence of Intraparticle Convection on Product Distribution for Series-Parallel Catalytic Reactions
The influence of intraparticle forced convection on the integral yield of desired product, as well as on the effectiveness factor for the net production of desired product, is analysed theoretically for an isothermal packed-bed reactor. The yield of desired product tends towards the reaction kinetics controlled limit value, as the intraparticle Peclet number increases, for any value of the key reactant Thiele modulus. However, the uniformity (monotony) of this approach depends on the particle value of the Thiele modulus and, so, the changes in the yield with intraparticle convection can be either favourable or undesired. The enhancement of the intraparticle effective diffusivity of any reactant by convection, which depends on the value of the corresponding Thiele modulus, is the concept used to explain the effect of intraparticle convection on product distribution.