I Methanol Synthesis in a Trickle Bed Reactor

INTRODUCTION The conversion of synthesis gas to methanol is practiced commercially in gas phase fixed bed reactors over a Cu/Zn/Al,O1 catalyst. However, because of the highly exothermic nature of the synthesis reactions, heat dissipation has been a bottleneck in the reactor design and process configuration. Moreover, coalderived synthesis gas, having a low H,/CO ratio, is not suitable for use in fixed bed reactors because of coke deposition. Trickle bed reactors combine advantages of both gas phase fixed bed and slurry reactors. With a liquid phase trickling over catalyst particles, the heat removal in trickle bed reactors is much more efficient compared to fixed bed reactors, which makes trickle bed reactors suitable for direct use of the coalderived synthesis gas. On the other hand, like fixed bed reactors, trickle bed reactor can operate at high gas space velocities and have high conversions per pass.