The ChemCatBio consortium has developed a packed bed process and catalyst for upgrading pyrolysis vapors prior to hydrotreating. The upgrading reactor and process are being scaled up as part of the supporting computational program in the Consortium for Computational Physics and Chemistry (CCPC). Currently, the process is operated at R&D scale in the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) using a nominal 100 gram catalyst bed. The target of the scaleup program is a 250x scale up to a pilot plant reactor holding approximately 25 kg of catalyst. This reactor will be integrated with the existing pyrolyzer in the NREL Thermal Conversion Process Development Unit, or TCPDU. COMSOL is being used in conjunction with standard engineering tools to accomplish this scaleup goal. The process is cyclic, with four major steps: (1) catalyst activation in flowing H2; (2) upgrading of pyrolysis vapors, with attendant deactivation by coke; (3) stripping in flowing N2; and (4) regeneration of catalyst in a flowing mixture of air and N2 At R&D scale, a single reactor is used, but in the TCPDU multiple reactors will be employed in a swing arrangement. To minimize costs, all four steps will be simulated, and the entire cycle will be streamlined. The first and most important step currently being simulated is the regeneration step (4). This step is the most crucial to avoid irreversible catalyst deactivation by sintering, maximize catalyst lifetime, and reduce overall cycle time. The presentation will summarize the status of the simulation program, and compare results to available experimental data.

Computational scale-up of packed bed reactor and process for catalytic upgrading of pyrolysis vapors using COMSOL

2019 Fall National Meeting

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