A Multi-Functional Circulating Fluidized Bed Pilot Plant for Catalytic Process Development

Catalytic processes are widely used in chemical or energy industries for producing either chemicals or liquid fuel. The Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics (DICP) has long been involving in the catalytic processes development. One of the recent achievements is the fluidized bed methanol-to-olefins technology (DMTO), which has been successfully commercialized and is becoming one of the main streams for light olefins production in China. This presentation will introduce the multi-functional circulating fluidized bed pilot plant in DICP. This pilot plant includes a regenerator and three different reactors: a riser reactor (10 m high), a multi-staged turbulent fluidized bed reactor (15 cm diameter), and a bubbling fluidized bed reactor (40 cm diameter). Any one of these three reactors can be used either alone or in combination with the other two upon the requirement for different processes. The unit can process 1-3 t/d methanol feed when used for DMTO process development. In addition to the reactor-regenerator system, the unit also has feed pre-treating, product separation, and dry gas combustion system. The presentation will illustrate the optimal design and operation of this unit by use of the development of DMTO and some other catalytic processes as examples.