LAUSR

For accurate and reliable process design for phenol oxidation in a plug flow reactor with supercritical water, modeling can be very insightful. Here, the velocity and density distribution along the reactor have been predicted by a numerical model and variations of temperature and phenol mass fraction are calculated under various flow conditions. The numerical model shows that as we proceed along the length of the reactor the temperature falls from above 430℃ to approximately 380℃. This is because the generated heat from the exothermic reaction is less that the amount lost through the walls of the reactor. Also, along the length, the linear velocity falls to less than one-third of the initial value while the density more than doubles. This is due to the fall in temperature which results in higher density which in turn demands a lower velocity to satisfy the continuity equation. Having a higher oxygen concentration at the reactor inlet leads to much faster phenol destruction; this leads to lower capital costs (shorter reactor will be required); however, the operational expenditures will increase for supplying the needed oxygen. The phenol destruction depends heavily on the kinetic parameters and can be as high as 99.9%. Using different kinetic parameters is shown to significantly influence the predicted distributions inside the reactor and final phenol conversion. These results demonstrate the importance of selecting kinetic parameters carefully particularly when these predictions are used for reactor design.