Multiphase flow and multicomponent reactive transport study in the catalyst layer of structured catalytic packings for the direct hydration of cyclohexene

Reactive distillation is an important intensification technology to overcome the unfavorable equilibrium conversion for the direct hydration of cyclohexene. In this work, a multiphase flow and multicomponent reactive transport model in the catalyst layer was established. By virtue of the model, the influences of structural parameters of the catalyst layer, physical parameters of two-phase fluid and reaction conditions on the catalyst layer efficiency factor were investigated. It was found that physical parameters of two-phase fluid can influence the two-phase distribution, thus affecting the catalyst layer efficiency factor. The catalyst layer efficiency factor decreases slightly with the rise of solubilities of cyclohexene and cyclohexanol, although concentration of cyclohexanol and reaction conversion can be improved by the addition of co-solvents. Furthermore, it was found that the catalyst layer efficiency factor is independent on structural parameters approximately. Therefore, the design of process-specific catalytic packings has remarkable difference between miscible and immiscible reaction systems.