I am in process of designing a continuous tubular reactor and when contacting the vendors for the pump systems, they often ask us about the flowrate requirements. How can we calculate the minimum flow rate needed for circulating the fluid in a continuous tubular reactor?
H2 plants perform steam methane reforming in tubular vapor phase reactors. If feed rate is too low there will be some maldistribution between tubes and the tube with low rates will get very hot. Reducing severity (Coil outlet temperature) recycling product can help but is often difficult to accomplish. It is difficult to operate more than 20-30% below design rates. Lowering severity and recycling as much as possible is usually the first response but it is extremely difficult to do efficiently. Pinching tube is an option if the low rates are expected to continue for a prolonged period.
Vinod S Amar, Maybe you can give some more details. What reactor do you really mean. What does the word "circulating" refer to. Do you mean the external circulation of the reactants, or the internal one, such as in e.g. the air lift reactor. What do you mean by minimum flow rate? The flow rate is related to the flow resistance (viscosity, local resistances) and with a small pressure difference generated by the pump, the fluid may not flow. The characteristics of the pump are important here.
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