Modeling of three-phase radial flow reactor for diesel hydrotreating

A mathematical model for a novel industrial-scale three-phase catalytic Radial Flow Reactor (RFR) has been developed using a two-dimensional mixing cell network (MCN) model. RFR is predominantly used for gaseous phase reactions in the petroleum refining industry. This work discusses the capabilities of three-phase RFR for diesel hydrodesulfurization. The reactions considered for the model development of diesel hydrodesulfurization are hydrodesulfurization, hydrodearomatisation, and olefins saturation. Apart from the well-known advantage of RFR, such as pressure drop, the analysis revealed other benefits such as better product quality, reduced H2S inhibition, no requirement of quench, high WABT. Simulations for RFR were performed for different gas distributors and results show that distributor design impacts the performance of reactor.