Modeling and simulation of a pseudo-two-phase gas-liquid column reactor for thermal hydrocracking of petroleum heavy fractions

Abstract

This work presents a model to predict the behavior of velocity, gas holdup and local concentration fields in a pseudo-two-phase gas-liquid column reactor applied for thermal hydrocracking of petroleum heavy fractions. The model is based on the momentum and mass balances for the system, using an Eulerian-Eulerian approach. Using the k-epsilon model,fluid dynamics accounts for both laminar and turbulent flows, with discrete small bubbles (hydrogen) flowing in a continuous pseudohomogeneous liquid phase (oil and catalyst particles). The petroleum is assumed to be a mixture of pseudocomponents, grouped by similar chemical structural properties, and the thermal hydrocracking is taken into account using a kinetic network based on these pseudocomponents.