Chimney Tray Conical Lower End for Reactor Liquid Dispersion
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional chimney trays for catalyst bed reactors face issues with uniform dispersion of liquid reactants, leading to channeling and attrition of catalysts, and inefficient contact between reactants and catalysts due to exposed chimneys and suboptimal liquid distribution.
Innovation Solution
A chimney tray design featuring cylindrical chimneys with a conical lower end angled between 10° to 40°, an upper hat-shaped cover to control gas flow, and strategically positioned outlets to disperse liquid reactants in an oval shape, preventing liquid from flowing into the top of the chimneys and enhancing radial distribution across the catalyst bed.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If conventional chimneys with exposed tops are used, then the structure is simple, but liquid reactant flows into the top of chimneys causing poor dispersion
Solution Approach 1:
The chimney is divided into multiple functional sections: an upper cover portion that prevents liquid ingress, a body portion with outlets for gas-liquid mixing, and a lower end portion with conical shape for radial dispersion. This segmentation allows each section to perform its specific function optimally, improving overall dispersion uniformity while maintaining reasonable structural complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The lower end of the chimney is designed with a conical shape that extends outward, changing from a simple cylindrical structure to a three-dimensional form that promotes radial dispersion. This dimensional change enables the liquid reactant to spread out in multiple directions rather than flowing straight down, significantly improving dispersion uniformity across the catalyst bed.
2Reliability
If liquid reactant flows at predetermined rate inside chimney, then flow is stable, but liquid does not break up into particles causing channeling
Solution Approach 1:
The chimney outlets are strategically positioned and oriented at specific angles (30-60 degrees) to create localized high-velocity jet regions where gas and liquid interact intensely. This local quality enhancement ensures that liquid breaks up into fine particles at the outlets while maintaining stable overall flow, preventing channeling and improving reaction efficiency through better liquid-catalyst contact.
Solution Approach 2:
The design changes key parameters including outlet angle (30-60 degrees), outlet diameter (0.5-2 times chimney diameter), and lower end cone angle (10-40 degrees) to optimize the balance between flow stability and liquid breakup. These parameter adjustments enable the liquid to disperse radially in an oval pattern while maintaining controlled flow rates, achieving both reliability and productivity.
3Manufacturing precision
If outlets are positioned at lower end of chimney, then liquid disperses radially, but dispersion uniformity is insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The lower end of the chimney is designed with an asymmetric conical shape that extends more in certain directions, creating an oval dispersion pattern rather than a perfect circle. This asymmetric design, combined with strategically positioned outlets at specific angles, achieves superior radial dispersion uniformity across the catalyst bed surface, addressing the insufficient uniformity problem while maintaining ease of operation through geometric simplicity.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The design significantly improves liquid reactant dispersion and contact efficiency with the catalyst, reducing channeling and attrition, and achieving better reactivity by uniformly distributing reactants across the catalyst bed.
Implementation Method 1
a conical lower end which extends from the lower portion of the chimney to make an angle of 10 ∼ 40° to the direction of the normal line of the tray so that the diameter thereof is increased downwards
Implementation Method 2
an upper cover for preventing the introduction of a liquid reactant into the top of the chimney 5 and controlling the open area depending on the flow rate of a gas reactant so that the flow rate of the gas reactant is increased
Implementation Method 3
wherein a gas reactant and a liquid reactant are mixed well in chimneys so that the liquid reactant is uniformly dispersed on the catalyst bed
Data Source
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AI summary
This invention relates to a chimney tray for a reactor, wherein a gas reactant and a liquid reactant are mixed well in chimneys to improve the dispersion performance of the liquid reactant on the catalyst bed of a fixed bed reactor thereby increasing the contact efficiency between the liquid reactant and the catalyst depending on the uniformity of flow of the liquid reactant, resulting in increased reaction efficiency, and which includes a tray having a plurality of through-holes, and a plurality of chimneys perpendicularly inserted into the through-holes of the tray and having one or more outlets penetrating there through and facing each other, wherein each of the plurality of chimneys includes a conical lower end which is formed such that it extends from the lower surface of the tray to make an angle of 10 ∼ 40° with respect to the direction of the normal line of the tray.