Reaction process in hybrid reactor for propylene ammoxidation

Abstract

A hybrid reactor arrangement provides a reactive design that achieves higher acrylonitrile yield and lower catalyst circulating rate. The hybrid reactor design first passes a mixture of reactants and catalyst through a circulating bubbling bed reaction section. Heat exchange coils or other cooling medium in the bubbling bed reactor section maintain temperature in a range that will maximize the selectivity of reactants to the acrylonitrile product. The bubbling bed reactor section provides the initial conversion of the reactant. A circulating fluidized bed reaction zone finishes the conversion of reactants to a high yield under conditions that reduce the occurrence of secondary reactions that could otherwise produce unwanted by-products. The circulating fluidized bed reactor section maintains nearly plug flow conditions that allow continued conversion of unreacted feed components through primary reactions while limiting the time for secondary reactions to continue and diminish the final yield of products. Selectivity and conversion may also be improved by sequential addition of oxygen into the CFB reaction section. The sequential addition of oxygen may occur by the direct injection of an oxygen-containing gas or by the delivery of re-oxidized catalyst particles that are fully recharged with the lattice oxygen necessary for the reaction. Through this method the hybrid reactor provides the typical 5% improvement of higher acrylonitrile product yield from CFB-type reaction zones while reducing the required catalyst circulation by a factor of 10 or more.