Numerical simulation of fixed-bed reactor for ethanol dehydration

The numerical simulation of ethanol dehydration in a φ 50 mm × 500 mm fixed-bed reactor was carried out by means of the computational fluid dynamics software Fluent and the porous media model, and experiments were conducted to verify the simulation results. The results showed that the radial temperature difference in the upper catalyst bed, which was the main area where the dehydration took place, was remarkable and the maximum temperature difference reached 50°C. In the reactor, the high temperature area is suitable for the generation of ethylene, whereas the low temperature area is advantageous to the formation of ether. Under the conditions of 400°C and WHSV 1.0 h^-1, the maximum deviation between the simulation values and experimental values of the temperature distribution was not more than 10°C, the simulation value and experimental value of the ethylene selectivity at the reactor exit were 98.6% and 96.9%, respectively, and the relative error of the ethylene selectivity was only 1.8%.