Assessment of Concentration and Temperature Distribution in a Berty Reactor for an Exothermic Reaction

The Berty reactor is a continuously operated stirred tank reactor that is used in catalytic experiments to achieve gradientless conditions. Uniformity of the concentration profile has been confirmed through residence time measurements, but the temperature profiles originating from the heat of reaction have not been investigated yet. In this work, the profiles inside the reactor are investigated for the exothermic methanation of CO2 under typical operating conditions for kinetic measurements via Computational Fluid Dynamics simulations. The results indicate that temperature gradients in the vicinity of the catalyst can occur even though residence time measurements confirm uniformity of concentration. It was shown that a low conversion per pass is key to uniform conditions, which can be influenced by a high dilution ratio of the catalyst bed, high operating pressure, and high rotation speed.

Automated summary

The Berty reactor is a continuously operated stirred tank reactor used for catalytic experiments under gradientless conditions. In this study, Computational Fluid Dynamics simulations were used to investigate the temperature profiles inside the reactor during the exothermic methanation of CO2. The results showed the presence of temperature gradients near the catalyst, despite the uniformity of concentration. It was found that a low conversion per pass is crucial for achieving uniform conditions.