Understanding Particle Attrition in Agitated 3-Phase Aerated Slurry Reactors

In 3-phase slurry reactors, a solid phase catalyst is used to promote a reactor between a liquid phase component and a gas phase component. Since the reaction requires intimate contact between all 3 phases, the system must be vigorously agitated in order to adequately suspend the solid particles and produce small gas bubble to enhance mass transfer. However, these high energy dissipation rates are detrimental to the catalyst particles.

To understand the impact of process variables on catalyst attrition, a study was performed where a series of experiments, aided by computational fluid dynamics simulations, were undertaken. This study helped to elucidate the type of attrition and allowed a first-order estimate of catalyst lifetime.