Kinetic Study of the Hydrogenolysis of n-Butane on Nickle Catalys

Abstract

<p>The catalytic hydrogenolysis of propane and n-butane have been investigated in an integral packed bed reactor (0. 70 cm. I.D. by 25. cm. long). The catalyst was 10.% nickel on silica gel. A blocked factorial set of experiments were performed at hydrogen to butane feed ratios of 4. to 9., temperatures of 240. °C. to 282. °C. and feed flowrates of 1.0 to 1. 8 ml./sec. Kinetic rate expressions were developed to predict the product distribution, taking into account increasing catalytic activity. A proposed parameter estimation strategy, applying non-linear regression theory, was used to obtain the ten kinetic parameters. Error analysis of the parameters using likelihood ratios is included. Models were developed to describe the catalyst activity changes observed during experimentation. The kinetic models predict the experimental observations very accurately over all conversions and show considerable deviation only at the combination of high temperature and low feed ratio.</p> <p>The butane kinetic model was incorporated into proposed fluidized bed reactor models and sensitivity analyses were performed on catalyst activity and the interchange parameter.</p>