Applied Thermal Engineering 21 (2001) 669682

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Design of packed bed reactors: guides to catalyst shape, size, and loading selection
S. Afandizadeh *, E.A. Foumeny
Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK Received 22 January 2000; accepted 6 June 2000

Abstract The engineering design of packed bed based unit operations is very much inuenced by the structure of the packing matrix, which in turn is governed by the shape, dimensions and the loading of the constituent particles. For, say, reactor applications, optimum design of catalyst pellet in terms of shape conguration, internal pores and available surface area can promote catalytic activity and the prevailing transport properties of the system. Moreover, at the design stage, fabrication cost, resistance to crushing and abrasion, as well as dust build-up should also be taken into account. Knowledge of the underlying factors should enable designers to engineer the optimum design for a given system with prescribed conditions. However, in view of the signicance of pellet/packing design, this paper addresses certain issues, which would elucidate the task. 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Packed bed reactor; Catalyst; Particle shape, size and surface area; Voidage; Loading; Scale-up; Pressure drop; Statistical test

1. Introduction Packing of particles in a vessel or container is a subject of great interest to a wide range of disciplines including reaction engineering, solids handling and heat transfer. Very many industrial processes require the controlled packing of particulate solids; they include loading of nuclear fuel elements, production of high bulk density concrete and the optimum packing of a host of

Corresponding author. Tel.: +44-07713-880701; fax: +44-01922-623368. E-mail address: jamshid@jalali_g.freeserve.co.uk (S. Afandizadeh).

1359-4311/01/$ - see front matter 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. PII: S 1 3 5 9 - 4 3 1 1 ( 0 0 ) 0 0 0 7 2 - 7

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Nomenclature As Ac Ahc Asw Acw di dp dpe dt D Di h L SDDiff Sp V Vp e em DP qp surface area of sphere surface area of solid cylinder surface area of hollow cylinder surface area of single web surface area of cross web inside diameter of hollow cylinder particle diameter equivalent diameter tube diameter outside diameter of hollow cylinder eorginal escaled-up height of particle bed length standard deviation of Di surface area of particles bed volume particle volume voidage mean voidage pressure drop particle density

materials such as catalysts in reactor tubes. There are eectively four variables, with subdivisions, which control the packing process. These include particle (shape, absolute size, size distribution, mass, elasticity and surface properties), container (shape, size and surface properties), deposition (intensity, speed and method) and treatment after deposition (process vibration). In the design of certain particulate systems, such as packed beds, it is customary to assume that the particles are of equal size and all the prevailing void spaces are equally and uniformly distributed [14]. This is clearly an idealised situation and reality can be far from such over-simplications [57]. The variations in the size of the constituent particles can have an impact on the available surface area, void spaces and, hence, the transport properties of the system [5,79]. Bed structure, in terms of void spaces between pellets and pores within individual catalyst, will dictate the performance of the system and therefore deserves special consideration. Reactor optimisation including catalyst design is not a trivial task. For this, catalytic mathematical models based on mass and energy balances should be formulated to predict reactor performance and to allow optimum design of catalyst and reactor. This paper deals with a number of issues, which inuence the design of packed beds, and on the basis of that signicance matters such as selection of particle shape, loading and scaling are addressed here.

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2. Shapes and selection of particles There is an innite number of shapes possible for particles and only a few variations are shown in Fig. 1. Selection of particle shape for a given purpose will be inuenced by the active surface area per unit volume of material, structural strength, ease of construction, manufacturing cost, bed voidage, pressure drop through bed matrix, and the transport properties. Many of the possible shapes can be discarded because they would not be easy or economical to fabricate and/or they would not have the necessary structural strength to resist crushing and abrasion. Particles with poor strength would soon crumble in the process of intense loading and the resulting dust and fragments would plug the spaces between pellets. This causes premature build-up in bed pressure drop. To overcome breakage of fragile pellets during their loading into an open tube or shell, the initial packing charge may be made by lling the empty container with water and then dumping the packing slowly into the water. However, the desired features of the preferred shape, for a given application, should be such that certain properties are high (e.g. active surface area per unit volume, voidage, strength and transport coecients) whilst the rest are low (e.g. pressure drop and cost). In the eld analysis, optimum design will be a compromise between competing and conicting characteristics. As far as pellet shape is concerned, an obvious choice is the hollow cylinder with possible further renements. It must be stressed that shape selection is not a trivial exercise and due to the importance attached to pellet shape, it deserves careful consideration. It should be added that selection criteria might not necessarily be identical for dierent applications. In thermal regenerators, where packing matrix primarily acts as heat storage medium, non-porous spherical and rectangular pellets are common while in catalytic reactors, derivatives of porous cylinders are the most viable

Fig. 1. Typical particle shapes.

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Fig. 2. Variation of surface area ratio (solid cylinder/sphere) with particle aspect ratio.

option. At the design stage, enhanced surface area per unit volume and reduced pressure drop are of prime importance. The desirability of higher surface area stems from the fact that, as a consequence, a smaller, say, reactor volume would be required. For a given volume, cylindrical particles provide higher surface area than their spherical counterparts. Fig. 2 displays surface area ratio (sphere/cylinder of equivalent volume) versus aspect ratio of cylindrical particle (haD). It is clear that a solid cylinder gives, at least, 14.5% more surface area than a sphere of equivalent volume, i.e. Ac P 1X145As . Extreme values of particle aspect ratio (i.e. haD is close to zero and very high) should be avoided because of their adverse performance characteristics. On the basis of detailed examinations, value of about one (haD 1X0) is recommended [9]. Moreover, beds of solid cylinders give voidage values of around 0.30, compared to about 0.40 for spheres [1,2,9,10]. This means that for a given bed volume, additional cylindrical pellets can be accommodated, facilitating 14.3% increased surface area, as calculated by the expression (es ec a1 ec ). In other words, for a given surface area, a smaller (volume) unit would be required. For a bed of solid cylinders, the increase in gross surface area would be about 28.8%. However, to counter the increased pressure drop in such beds, the basic shape of solid cylinders is modied. Possibilities include hollow cylinders with one or more holes, usually drilled axially. In the case of hollow cylinders, particle diameter ratio (di aD) is also a design variable, signifying that the diameter and the number of holes are important. Fig. 3 illustrates surface area ratio (hollow cylinder/solid cylinder) plotted against diameter ratio (di aD), for a range of aspect ratio values. An inspection of the displayed results reveals that, avoiding impracticable values of di aD corresponding to solid and innitely thin hollow cylinders, the optimum design range is relatively conned. This is believed to be 0X75 6 haD ` 1X50 and 0X4 ` di aD ` 0X8, giving some 2030% extra surface area for hollow cylinders compared to the corresponding solid cylinders. This, i.e. extrusion of solid cylinders, should also result in higher voidage and, hence, signicantly lower pressure drop [11]. Creation of axially extruded holes, particularly in terms of size and number, is a challenging optimisation task, requiring extensive experimentation. In industrial practice, e.g. methanol converters, four-hole cylindrical pellets are known to give improved reactor performance compared to more conventional pellet shapes [9].

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Fig. 3. Eects of particle aspect ratio and diameter ratio on surface area ratio (hollow/solid cylinder).

Hollow cylinders (also known as Raschig rings) can be further rened by the addition of a single web (known as Lessing ring), cross web or grooves in order to enhance the amount of active surface and to promote the prevailing turbulence. In a further attempt, single and cross web arrangements are examined. Typical results are illustrated in Figs. 4 and 5. The displayed relative surface area information are calculated using tedious mathematical expressions derived for both shapes, assuming that the thickness of the web being equal to that of the cylinder wall. It is important to note that in both (single and cross web) cases, the diameter ratio must satisfy the condition di aD b 0X33. Fig. 4 shows surface area ratio values (single web/hollow cylinder) for dierent values of di aD and haD. For the suggested dimensional details, i.e. 0X75 6 haD ` 1X50 and 0X4 ` di aD ` 0X8, the increase in surface area, due to the single web, for a given pellet is between 10% and 27%, compared to the corresponding hollow cylinders. This increase in surface area, Asw Ahc aAhc 100, is directly proportional to haD and di aD. It should also be said that for the extreme condition, where di aD 1X0, the surface area ratio is p 2ap 1, i.e. Asw aAhc 1X24, for dierent values of haD. The extension of this to cross web arrangements can be seen in Fig. 5. It is evident that in the present case, the particle aspect ratio, haD, does not inuence, appreciably, the surface area ratio, whilst the eect of di aD is more noticeable. An inspection of the displayed results (Fig. 5) also reveals that cross web can only oer

Fig. 4. Eects of particle details (di aD and haD) on surface area ratio (single web/hollow cylinder).

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Fig. 5. Eects of particle details (di aD and haD) on surface area ratio (cross web/single web).

additional surface area, as compared to single web, when di aD b 0X6. For realistic dimensions, the increase in surface area is up to 16%. It is very important to state, at this juncture, that renements from hollow cylinder to, say, single or cross web must be based on economic justication. This means that any enhanced performance must be judged against the likely increase in fabrication cost. As to the size issue, particles are dened by their diameter (dp ) or equivalent diameter (dpe ). For spherical particles, the choice is fairly straightforward but for other shapes equivalent diameter is used, which is based on the diameter of a sphere of equal volume, or more appropriately dened as dpe 6Vp aSp , where Vp and Sp are the volume and surface area of the particle in question.

3. Loading/charging of particles 3.1. Aspects of conventional loading The ecient and successful operation of catalytic processes depends on the condition of the catalysts employed. Catalyst handling including charging should be exercised with care and the signicance of the task considered at the design and planning stages. As far as bed structure is concerned, it is important that unstable and inecient arrangements are avoided. In industrial practice, particles of desired size and shape are dumped randomly into a container to form a packed bed. The general rules governing catalysts loading are (i) they should have a free fall distance of less than 0.5 m, and (ii) the pellets must be distributed evenly as the bed is gradually lled. The height that a catalyst pellet can fall without serious damage depends on its strength and, in certain cases, on particle shape. A hard spherical granule will withstand landing collisions better than a soft angular pellet. Strong pellets can speed up the charging process, signicantly. In the course of bed formation, i.e. charging, particle segregation and uneven distribution should be prevented, as they would lead to undesirable ow maldistribution with corresponding pressure variations. Moreover, pellets must not be charged in a way to form bridges across the tube walls, as this will lead to inecient (i.e. high voidage) packing regions and, hence, resulting in, say, overheating during an exothermic operation. One common method of lling a tube evenly is to

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use a catalyst-lled canvas or polyethylene sock, attached to an external hopper. When the sock, which is gradually being lowered inside the tube, has reached the bottom of the tube, then a cord which is attached to the sock, is withdrawn with a sharp tug. The sock is then pulled slowly in order to allow the catalyst pellets to fall into the tube in a controlled manner. For accessibility, the size of the charged sock should be slightly less than the internal diameter of the tube. In multi-tubular catalytic reactors, where thousands of tubes may be bundled inside a large shell, the charging process must be followed for all and every tubes. One of the most dicult issues facing designers would be to ensure consistency of structure between packed tubes, i.e. from ll to ll. To satisfy this condition, bed pressure drop and charged weight are examined, and it is important that, for example, the measured pressure drop across each tube is maintained within 5% of the mean value. A higher gure is generally indicative of broken pellets, in which case the tube in question should be recharged with acceptable catalysts. On the other hand, an unexpectedly low pressure drop suggests that there are large gaps or spaces in the packing matrix and that the tube in question requires further vibration. It is useful to state at this juncture that pressure drop across a bed is very sensitive to bed mean voidage (e), roughly proportional to e3 . In view of this, beds are usually vibrated periodically during the charging process in order to improve their stability and compactness. This procedure, which results in dense packing, is applied during the charging process by means of a vibrator or by hammering the top ange with a soft-faced hammer. In any case, dense packing is preferred to loose packing because, otherwise, process noise-related bed shrinkage, and hence less desirable reactor performance, would be even more pronounced. It is known that a loosely packed catalyst bed will settle in use and the pressure drop may consequently increase by up to 100%, which drastically aects the economic viability of the unit. In reality, the structure can collapse or shrink in the order of 1020% of the original bed height. Another important issue is the reproducibility and uniformity of bed structure, particularly in multi-tubular packed bed arrangements. 3.2. Bed shrinkage To establish the extent of bed shrinkage, arising from process disturbance, a number of experiments have been conducted. For this, four tubes together with dierent particles are employed. In each case, the tube of a given size is lled, randomly, with the desired particles. The bed is subsequently subjected to vibrations and the percentage of shrinkage is recorded. Each experiment is conducted up to three times and the established data conrmed the reproducibility of the observations. Typical experimental results are shown in Table 1. It is clearly evident that vibration can cause particles to move in a way to be more compact, i.e. resulting in bed shrinkage. The limited experiments pursued here showed bed shrinkage between 6% and 15%. The intensity of noise and vibration, as present in industrial environment, can have a more severe consequence. However, the existence of disturbance signies the fact that bed shrinkage is an important phenomenon, which must be given due consideration. 3.3. Improved loading method One major problem associated with conventional loading methods is the inconsistency in bed structure, i.e. mean and local voidage properties, from ll to ll. In the ltration industry,

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Table 1 Eect of vibration on bed shrinkage dt (mm), L (mm) 5, 97 Shrinkage (%) Salt Sugar Moonga dp 4 Lentil dpe 4X76
a

12, 57 6.58 6.58 5.26 7.02

12, 125 8.00 10.00 6.40 13.20

14, 93 6.45 9.68 8.06 14.52

5.84 6.70

Grass pea.

however, some companies have adopted a patented packing procedure [12], which not only gives dense packing, and so minimises settling occurrences, but also gives improved reproducibility of the packing. This also means that the procedure leads to consistently low voidage beds. The patented method, known as ``snow storm lling'', involves passing the packing material over staggered wires or wire meshes so that the fall of the particles is interrupted before the particles reach the bed face. The ow interruption serves two basic purposes. Firstly, it causes radial dispersion of particles and, as a consequence, the entire bed face is covered at a uniform rate. The second purpose is to align the particles so that a greater proportion of them reaches the bed face with a minimal area of contact. This would lead to the greatest pressures being exerted on the bed face by the collision with the falling particles and, therefore, any local cavities are likely to be levelled out. The radial dispersion action also reduces the possibility of ne particles aggregating at the centre of the bed and would, consequently, contribute to the uniformity of bed structure. Fig. 6 shows the equipment used for this method of lling beds. During the snow storm lling (ssf) procedure, the empty tube is placed underneath the fall tube. Charging the bed is done by, rst, delivering the requisite amount of material to the hopper and then passing it through the fall tube at a specied rate. This rate is calculated by choosing a

Fig. 6. Apparatus for snow storm lling of packed beds.

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constant lling (or charging) speed equivalent to 0.55.0 mm (of bed length) per second at which the bed length is to be loaded. This can be translated into typical speeds of 0.72.5 mm/s. The diameter of the fall tube needs to be either the same or larger as that of the empty tube. This ensures that the full cross-sectional area of the bed (empty tube) is accessed by the owing particles. A feature of selecting a single ll rate for the ssf technique is that, in processes involving frequent bed lling, the time management is made easier. This ensures the reliability of the technique to provide reproducible dense packing with minimal mean voidage variations between successive lls. Results from a series of ssf-based experiments are shown in Table 2. Here, data points for each set represent three measurement values for a bed packed by three dierent methods, namely slow lling, fast lling and snow storm lling. In these experiments, dierent sizes of spheres packing are used. The fast pouring method simply involves dumping adequate quantity of material from a beaker straight into a funnel situated above the bed opening and without applying any tapping or shaking disturbance. The bed is overlled and then levelled with a metal ruler to assure consistency in bed height for all runs. In the slow pouring method, the only dierence is that the

Table 2 Mean voidage, em , results from dierent methods of bed llinga Filling method and time to ll bed Fast lling, `5 s dp 1.13 mm; dt adp 34.51 Bed packing weight Average weight of 3 runs Average bed voidage dp 4.0 mm; dt adp 9.75 Bed packing weight Average weight of 3 runs Average bed voidage dp 1.64 mm; dt adp 23.78 Bed packing weight Average weight of 3 runs Average bed voidage dp 2.67 mm; dt adp 14.61 Bed packing weight Average weight of 3 runs Average bed voidage dp 2.03 mm; dt adp 19.21 Bed packing weight Average weight of 3 runs Average bed voidage
a

Slow lling, $30 s

Snow storm lling, $570 s (at 0.7 mm/s) 883 934.6 934.7 0.330 921 920.9 0.340 972.9 972.7 0.303 972 969.5 0.305 990.2 991.2 0.290 934.7 934.9

870.1 867.4 0.378 870.4 870.6 0.378 926.6 927.3 0.335 918.2 920.7 0.340 933.4 933.0 0.331

866.9

865.3

877.4 879.9 0.369 891.6 889.9 0.362 937.1 937.7 0.328 934.6 931.7 0.332 941.1 0.9397 0.327

879.4

870.5

870.8

889.9

888.2

920.6

921.2

929.9

925.3

937.2

938.9

973.2

971.9

921.7

922.2

929.4

931

966.4

970.2

934.1

931.6

938.6

939.4

993.4

989.9

dt 39 mm; L 400 mm; V 0X48 l; qp 2X92 g/cc; em em 0X015.

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Fig. 7. Calculated mean voidage values using dierent methods of lling.

dumping into the funnel above the bed opening is deliberately slowed so that it takes, approximately, 30 s to ll the bed. The ssf procedure is then applied at a ll speed of 0.7 mm/s. The results illustrate the repeatability of the ssf method, i.e. giving less variations in the total packing weights and conrming the dense nature of the packing. The actual packing for the experiments is mono-sized spheres of 1.13 and 4.0 mm sizes. The particle equivalent diameter, dpe , values of 1.64 and 2.67 mm are obtained by mixing dierent size spheres, as 50/50 (by weight) binary mixtures, and the size of 2.03 mm comprised a quaternary mixture of 1.13, 2.0, 3.0 and 4.0 mm spheres, equally added in weight. Accordingly, as can be seen from Table 2, the quaternary mixture has the lowest voidage of 0.29 from the ssf packing procedure. This is because, the interstices between large particles could be more readily lled by the smaller particles in that mixture, and because ssf technique gives good dispersion of all the particle sizes present. For convenience, the results of Table 2 are displayed in Fig. 7 for the three loading methods, namely fast, slow and snow storm lling. As expected, the snow storm lling provides the most dense packing, i.e. the least voidage, and this observation is due to the eective mechanical vibration, applied as the bed is being formed. In addition to the compact packing, this method of lling proved to generate reproducible results. Of the three methods employed here, fast lling method tends to give the largest voidage. This phenomenon is caused by the fact that the time interval between the formation of successive layers is very short, eectively culminating in loose orientation of particles. By the same argument, slow lling gives a more compact packing arrangement compared to fast lling. 4. Scale-up consideration Scale-up is the inherent feature of all industrial design activities. It is generally the process of moving from demonstrations to commercial operating units; i.e. from small to large, whilst having condence in the designed product. The success of any scale-up exercise is judged by the performance of the designed system. The most appropriate approach of gathering reliable design data is from the real size plant but, unfortunately, this is usually not possible. Accurate design of

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any system calls for the acquisition of dependable design information; data which can reliably be used to design units of the desired size. Laboratory or benchmark experiments should be carried out for a variety of sizes whilst keeping certain dimensional ratios xed. In the case of packed beds, the most signicant parameter is the tube to particle diameter ratio, dt adp . For irregular particles, dp should be replaced by equivalent diameter. However, it is now recognised that for certain beds, i.e. where dt adp ` 10, the total pressure drop, DP, across the bed can be greatly inuenced by the diameter ratio, as DP is very sensitive to the bed voidage, e. Bearing in mind the signicance of pressure drop (hence, pumping requirements) on the capital and running costs of a given unit, accurate design is of vital importance. The mean voidage can vary between 0.40 and 0.67 for cylindrical beds packed with spheres of small diameter ratios, 1X87 6 dt adp 6 10X0, and for larger systems, i.e. dt adp b 10, it takes a constant value of 39% [1,2,5,9]. Apart from particle shape and diameter ratio, dt adp , scaling can be expected to aect the bed structure and, hence, the overall performance of the system. A number of cylindrical beds randomly packed with mono size spheres of dierent specications have been subjected to experimental scrutiny. Table 3 lists three pairs of beds with diameter ratios of 4.02, 8.75 and 14.58. In each pair, the diameters of tube, dt , and particle, dp , have been changed whilst retaining their ratio, dt adp . This enables scaling eect to be assessed. Mean and standard deviation of voidage distribution for each bed are tabulated for analysis purposes. The tabulated values of mean voidage vary between 0.41 and 0.49 and in each pair of beds, the scaledup beds, i.e. ACSS, BCSS and CCSS, have lower values of voidage compared to their corresponding original beds, i.e. ACS, BCS and CCS. This is due to the scaling eect, which as a consequence of packing weight, causes relatively larger/heavier particles to pack more compact, e.g. say ACSS compared with ACS. In a further attempt, the observed data of all beds have been subjected to statistical scrutiny based on, for example, KologorovSimirnov test [13] in order to establish whether there is any real dierence between beds in each pair. For this, SPSS, (Statistical Package for Social Science), is utilised in order to gather the necessary statistical properties. The tests require voidage data and for this over 2000 values were used for each bed. The data points, uniformly and consistently distributed, were generated using image analysis techniques, details of which can be found elsewhere [5]. Typical frequencyvoidage histograms for beds BCS and BCSS dt adp 8X75 are shown in Fig. 8. Inspection of the displayed histograms reveals that, despite similarity in trends, both beds appear to have dierent properties. For example, the mean and standard deviation of voidage distribution for bed BCS are 0.437 and 0.18, respectively, as compared to the corresponding values of 0.410 and 0.19 for scaled-up bed BCSS. Moreover, the frequency of voidage
Table 3 Statistical information on three pairs of beds Bed ACS ACSS BCS BCSS CCS CCSS dp (mm) 1.92 4.00 3.20 5.10 3.10 6.96 dt (mm) 28.00 58.32 28.00 44.62 12.46 28.00 dt adp 14.58 14.58 8.75 8.75 4.02 4.02 Mean voidage 0.41 0.40 0.43 0.41 0.48 0.49 Standard deviation 0.16 0.16 0.18 0.19 0.25 0.24

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Fig. 8. Comparison of voidage distributions of two beds (dt adp 8X75).

values in the range 0.270.57, for beds BCS and BCSS, are 1550 and 1520, respectively, signifying some 2% increased occurrence in BCS as compared to BCSS. The results are indicative of the fact that bed structure, as typied by voidage, is also inuenced by scaling. This means that for a given system, with xed geometrical properties and loading procedures, the scaling or relative size can inuence bed structure. The pronouncement will be dictated by the scale-up factor, loading and packing characteristics. The axial voidage distributions for the two aforementioned beds are shown in Fig. 9, where the mean voidage of dierent cross-sections are plotted against the dimensionless axial distance. It is evident that bed BCSS, i.e. the scaled-up bed, shows lower voidage values. This is caused by the increased weight of the constituent particles of bed BCSS, giving a more condensed packing matrix. Further statistical data for all three pairs of beds are given in Table 4. The tabulated data provide information on dierence of mean voidage values (Di), standard deviation of corresponding local voidage values (SDDiff ), t-value, p-value, and 95% condence interval (CI). These properties are used to conduct the required tests, so as to indicate whether the beds in each set are

Fig. 9. Axial voidage distribution for beds BCS and BCSS.

S. Afandizadeh, E.A. Foumeny / Applied Thermal Engineering 21 (2001) 669682 Table 4 Statistical information based on mean test Paired beds ACS, ACSS BCS, BCSS CCS, CCSS
a b

681

Mean voidage 0.4143, 0.4045 0.4366, 0.4145 0.4766, 0.4961

Di a 0.0098 0.0221 0.0194

SDDiff b 0.102 0.115 0.154

t-value 4.54 8.72 4.54

p-value 0.000 0.000 0.000

95% CI (0.006, 0.014) (0.017, 0.027) (0.028, 0.011)

Diff e bed 1 e bed 2; based on mean values. SDDiff standard deviation of variable Di; based on individual values.

identical. This is achieved by calculating, in turn, Di, SDDiff , t-value, p-value (probability value) and 95% CI. The test for each pair is based on the comparison of p-value against 95% CI values. If the p-value lies within 95% CI values, then the hypothesis (i.e. beds being identical) is accepted, otherwise it is rejected. Considering beds BCS and BCSS, as an example, the p-value of 0.000 is outside the 95% CI values of 0.017 and 0.027. This suggests that, with 95% condence, it can be assumed the two beds are not identical in structure. This pattern is also evident in other pairs. In general, scaling-up aects bed structure and, as stated earlier, the extent of that pronouncement is inuenced by a number of factors. 5. Conclusions Particulate beds are frequently encountered in a wide range of engineering disciplines. Accurate design of such systems relies on the selection of appropriate particle shape and the ability to estimate, accurately and condently, the structural and transport properties of the bed. Variables, which aect bed structure, are the properties of the particles and the container as well as the loading of particles and subsequent treatment. This article has addressed a number of issues such as selection of shapes, loading methods and scaling. It is important to note that a chosen or newly designed catalyst pellet shape must be subjected to rigorous laboratory/pilot plant tests. As part of this, it is necessary to quantify the transport phenomena and the reaction kinetics that govern the catalyst performance. This is done by developing a catalystreactor mathematical model so that all the prevailing physical/operating variables can be studied for their main and interaction eects. The nal catalyst design will represent a compromise between competing and conicting characteristics. However, after the optimised catalyst is produced, its performance must be tested in an experimental reactor. It is required that the nal product (design) will combine maximum activity, yield, and resistance with minimum pressure drop and fabrication cost. Further scrutiny of bed structure in terms of local voidage distributions and the way bed general properties aect transport and kinetic coecients can be found in a follow-up paper.
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682 [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11]

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A.G. Dixon, Can. J. Chem. Engng. 66 (1988) 705. D.P. Haughey, G.S.C. Beveridge, Can. J. Chem. Engng. 47 (1969) 130. S. Afandizadeh, Ph.D. Thesis, University of Leeds, 1996. C. McGreavy, E.A. Foumeny, K.H. Javed, Chem. Engng. Sci. 41 (1986) 787. P.M. Summers, Ph.D. Thesis, University of Leeds, 1994. H.A. Moallemi, Ph.D. Thesis, University of Leeds, 1989. E.A. Foumeny, J.A. Castro, J. Ma, Design Aspects of Fixed Beds, in press. E.A. Foumeny, S. Roshani, Chem. Engng. Sci. 46 (1991) 2363. E.A. Foumeny, F. Benyahia, J.A. Castro, H.A. Moallemi, S. Roshani, Int. J. Heat and Mass Transfer 36 (1993) 536. [12] Improvement in or relating to the lling of granular materials into container, patent number 606,867, Jan. 21, 1946. [13] S. Dowdy, S. Wearden, Statistics for Research, Wiley, New York, 1983.