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949-956, 1995
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Abstract---The kinetics of the water-gas shift reaction (WGSR) over a copper/zinc oxide/alumina catalyst have been
studied. The experiments were carried out at 453-503 K and atmospheric pressure. A reactive mixture of similar
composition to that employed in the industrial process was used. An integral reactor, an integral procedure and a
data treatment valid for near equilibrium conditions were employed. A number of representative models were
examined. It was found that only a Langmuir-Hinshelwood model, which considers the adsorption of four species
(CO, CO,, H, and H,O) and the surface reaction as the controlling step, adequately describesthe reaction behaviour
at the temperature and concentration ranges investigated. Values of adsorption constants and adsorption heats for
the four components involved in the WGSR are given.
An algorithm for the simulation of an adiabatic fixed-bed reactor was developed with the aim of checking the
kinetics expression. Both the industrial and simulated compositions agree. It is proved that the kinetic expression
proposed which is in harmony with a Langmuir-Hinshelwood mechanism is useful in designing industrial low-
temperature converters.
949
950 N. E. AMADEO and M. A. LABORDE
The WGSR is a reversible and exothermic reaction, (3) To simulate a low-temperature industrial converter
many materials being capable of catalysing it [2]. Two using the kinetic expression found in this work and to
classes ofmaterials are almost exclusively used in industry compare the computed results with those obtained from
as shift catalysts, the iron-based catalysts and the copper- the industrial reactor.
based catalysts.
Copper-based shift catalysts arise from a more recent
KINETICS: EXPERIMENTAL
development which has gained wide industrial acceptance.
These are the so-called low-temperature shift catalysts,
operating from 453 to 523 K [3]. These catalysts have Equipment
good activity at low temperature and are therefore attract- Experiments were performed in a conventional flow
ive, since equilibrium is more favourable at lower tem- system shown in Fig. 1. Distilled water was fed to an
perature. In addition to higher activity, another advantage evaporator using a high precision liquid pump. The
claimed for the low-temperature shift catalysts is higher evaporator was filled with a bed of catalyst in order to
selectivity and fewer side reactions at high pressures. retain traces of chlorine present in water.
Numerous studies on copper-based low-temperature A mixture of the water vapour produced and gases
catalysts have been published concerning the kinetics and (CO, CO,, H, and NJ was passed through a preheating
mechanisms. Despite the large amount of research on zone prior to entering the reactor. The stainless steel
this subject, there are still controversies about the kinetics reactor consisted of a cylindrical cup of 10 mm diameter
and mechanisms of the WGSR. Two different mechan- and 23 mm length, perforated on the bottom with orifices
isms are propsed: a “surface redox mechanism” and a of 0.5 mm diameter, which enabled the flow of gases. The
“Langmuir-Hinshelwood mechanism”, each having nu- catalyst was retained by a plug of glass wool. A thermo-
merous supporters. The surface mechanism is based on couple tube passed through the catalyst bed so that
the adsorption and dissociation of water on the catalytic temperature could be measured at different positions
surface [4-121. Fiolitakis and Hofmann [13] postulated along the bed. The bed temperature was controlled within
a three-path reaction model consisting of two normal 0.5”C. The cup was placed in a stainless steel pipe of
Langmuir-Hinshelwood-type mechanisms and a redox 12.5 mm diameter which was heated by a tubular furnace
mechanism which regulates the oxygen activity on the of three heating sections.
catalyst surface. The LangmuirrHinshelwoodmechanism After leaving the reactor, the remaining steam was
involves a surface formate intermediate [14-231. Salmi condensed out. Before passing through the sampling
and Hakkarainen [24] suggested that an alternating chamber and through a wet gas meter the gas stream
oxidation-reduction process could be significant at the was dried by silica gel.
beginning of the transient reaction period on the activated Feed and effluent compositions were analysed by gas
catalyst, but the main reaction path probably consists of chromatography. A Hewlett-Packard chromatograph
a Langmuir-Hinshelwood mechanism. Finally, Campbell model 5730, equipped with thermal conductivity de-
and Daube [25] postulated a Langmuir-Hinshelwood tectors, was employed to analyse CO, H, and N, using
mechanism with dissociation of adsorbed water as the a Porapak Q column, whereas CO, was separated by a
determining step, but the same authors suggested that a molecular sieve column.
redox mechanism could also be probable with the same
step as the controlling rate (dissociation of water). Chemicals
Kinnaird et al. [26], referring to methanol kinetics on
a copper/zinc/alumina catalyst, stated that the wide range CO 99.9% from L’Air Liquid and CO,, H, and N,
of experimental conditions and the variety of catalyst 99.9% from La Oxigena were filtered through silica gel
preparation techniques which have been employed have and used without any further purification. Distilled water
probably contributed to some of the apparent discrep- was used.
ancies in exprimental results, particularly since the per- Characteristics of the commercial catalyst used were:
formance of these catalysts is strongly affected by reaction composition (%p/p), CuO : 32.7, ZnO : 47, Al,O, : 11;
conditions. The same concept can be applied to the specific surface, 42 mz g-l; poral volume, 0.11 cm3 g-i;
WGSR. and copper metallic area, 13 mz g-‘.
To date, it can be concluded that catalyst texture and
structure and feed mixture composition may strongly
Procedure
affect the kinetics and mechanism of the WGSR.
The aims of this work are as follows. Catalyst was loaded in the reactor and reduced in situ
for 4 h at 453 K and 12 h at 503 K using a gas mixture
(1) To find a kinetics expression for the WGSR which of 1% H, in N,. At this stage a strict temperature control
fits the experimental data in a range of variables similar was established in order to avoid copper oxide sintering
to those used in the industrial process when a commercial and/or zinc oxide reduction. Both phenomena produce
catalyst of copper/zinc/alumina is used. copper crystal growth and, as a consequence, catalyst
(2) To compare the kinetic expression found with that activity decay [27].
usually employed in the design of low-temperature in- Preliminary experiments with different particle sizes
dustrial converters. and feed rates at the highest operating temperature
HYDROGEN PRODUCTION
n -r
1. flow meter
2. sample
N2
3. water reservoir
4. pump
5. vaporiser
6. reactor
7. water trap
8. silicagel drier
9. gas meter
H2
(503 K) were made in order to eliminate internal and be appreciated that CO conversion declines as inlet
external diffusional resistances. These experiments in- partial pressures of H, and CO, are increased, whereas
dicated the absence of both resistances when operating it increases with increasing water partial pressure. This
with a feed rate of 5 cm’ s-l, a catalytic mass of 0.4 g set of experiments was performed at WIF”,, and W/F,
and a particle size of 0.35.-0.42 mm. The operative constant.
conditions used in this work are shown in Table 1. In Fig. 2(a), it can be seen that CO conversion decreases
It is well known that the feed mixture composition when pso is increased. It must be noted that, in this case,
affects the deactivation rate of the catalyst [28]. It was the experimental data were obtained working at W/F&,
found that the catalyst activity remained almost constant variable and W/F, constant. At this condition and if it
during a long period provided that CO partial pressure is assumed that the system is first order with respect to
was maintained above a certain critical value [29, 303. CO, CO conversion should to remain constant when CO
Experiments were performed at a constant temperature partial pressure is varied. Nevertheless, this effect does
varying the inlet partial pressure of the gases one at a not occur. Recalling that this set of experiments was
time, keeping the partial pressure of the other components performed at pto, = 0, the decrease of CO conversion
constant. Nitrogen was used in order to keep the total can be explained by the large effect of pco which, in this
gas flow constant. case, increases proportionally when p:o >ncreases. The
same behaviour was observed by Barreto et al. [31]
working with an Fe/Cr catalyst.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION As has already been mentioned, isothermia in the bed
In Fig. 2(aHd) the effects of partial pressures of CO, and absence of diffusional resistances were confirmed
H,O, H, and CO, on CO conversion are shown. It can experimentally. In order to find the kinetic expressions,
the plug flow hypothesis was made and an integral reactor
Table 1. Experimental conditions
behaviour was assumed since the experimental conver-
sion values were higher than 10% in a11cases.
Water flow rate: 1.7-2.3 mg s- ’ Mass balance in the reactor is given by:
Gas volumetric Row rate: 5.0-8.3 ml s- ’
CO molar fraction: 0.03~0.12
H, molar fraction: 0.274.52 __1 x --dX
(1)
CO, molar fraction: 0.0-0.12 k(T) j o .f(W =x Fw
Temperature: 453-503 K
Pressure: 2 x 10’ Pa Functions f(X) and k(T) were obtained by means of the
Catalyst mass: 0.4 g
optimization REGRE routine [32]. Equation (1) was
Particle diameter: 0.35-0.42 mm
solved by applying Simpson’s method.
952 N. E. AMADEO and M. A. LABORDE
0.6 0.5
1011(1)
0.5
0.3 - \ 0 .‘I /
x 0.3 - x 0.2 - -
80 000
0.2 - 0.1 -
L)Experimental values -Model III 0 Experimental values -Model III
0.1
0 0.25 0.30 0.35 0.40 0.45 0.50 0.55 0.60 0 0.05 0.10 0.15
p& x 10m5Pa p& x 10m5Pa
2
Fig. 2. (a) CO conversion vs inlet CO partial pressure (at). Experimental data: operative conditions: T = 503 K; P: atmospheric
pilo = 0.4 x lo5 Pa, p& = 0.36 x 10’ Pa, pgo, = 0 0 Pa. (b) CO conversion vs inlet H,O partial pressure (at). Experimental data:
operative conditions: T = 503 K; P: atmospheric pgo = 0.12 x lo5 Pa, paH, = 0.44 x 10s Pa, p& = 0.0 Pa. (c) CO conversion vs
inlet H, partial pressure (at). Experimental data: operative conditions: T = 503 K; P: atmospheric pg, = 0.11 x lo5 Pa,
p& = 0.26 x 10s Pa, pg, = 0.0 Pa. (d) CO conversion vs inlet CO, partial pressure (at). Experimental data: operative conditions:
T = 503 K; P: atmospheric p& = 0.11 x 10’ Pa, pg,, = 0.26 x 10s Pa, pi, = 0.26 x lo5 Pa.
model is also plotted in Fig. 2. It can be seen that this and they use the initial rates measured on a commercial
model predicts the behaviour observed experimentally. catalyst by van Herwijnen and de Jong [16] in order to
Model III represents a LangmuirrHinshelwood reac- prove their model. They find a reasonable agreement
tion mechanism and, in addition, gives information about between both the calculated and the measured rates
the adsorption constants involved in the process. Values except for high water contents and high temperatures
of the apparent activation energy and the adsorption heat (4899501 K). At these latter conditions the calculated rate
for model III were obtained from a fitting made with all is higher than the experimental value.
the available experimental data. The set of resultant We tried to fit, with our experimental data, the model
values is shown in Table 3. The objective function and proposed by Ovesen et ~11.[35] and we found that the
the variance for this fitting with 140 data were 0.12 and predicted conversions were always 3.5 times higher than
0.01, respectively. These values indicate that this fitting our experimental conversions. This result is not surprising
is as satisfactory as that obtained with data corresponding since these authors affirm that a possible explanation of
to a sole temperature. the lack of fitting of the redox model at high temperatures
It can be seen that adsorption constants of CO and and high H,O/CO ratios is that the observed kinetics is
H,O remain almost invariable with temperature. The sensitive to the value of the kinetics coefficient for the
effect of temperature seems to arise from H, and CO, CO oxidation. Therefore, the observed decrease could be
adsorption constants, explaining the low variation of the described by their model if it could calculate a CO
kineticcoefficient with it. Campbell [33] arrived at similar oxidation rate 20 times lower (as a general rule, the
conclusions using the same commercial catalyst. reaction rate increases two times when temperature
Some authors relate the low sensibility of the kinetic increases 10 K).
coefficient to temperature with the existence of diffusional
resistances (external or internal) in the catalyst, which is
not the case in this work, as has been mentioned SIMUL.ATION
previously. In addition, the absence of diffusional resis- The kinetics expression proposed in this work, replac-
tances was verified applying theoretical criteria [34]. The ing the values of adsorption constants and kinetics
relative concentration gradients calculated, both inside coefficient, is:
and outside the catalytic pellet, were less than lo- 5.
The agreement of the results presented here with those (-rco) =
of Campbell [33] is not surprising since the same catalyst
and similar operative conditions (especially feed gas 0.92e~454~3~7p,opH20(1- /I)
composition) were used in both works. The main differ- (1 + 2.2e101.5/TpC0+ 0.4e158.“~TpHzo
+ 0.0047e2737~9~Tpco2
ence between both experiments is that Campbell worked
in the presence of diffusional resistances while, in the
present paper, these resistances were eliminated. +0.92e-
454.3%JOPH,0(1 -
~,yje1596.1!TpH,)2
P)
’ (4)
In a recent paper [35], the authors, following the
surface redox mechanism, assume that both the dissocia-
tion of H,O* and the reaction between CO* and 0* may where ( -rco) is given in moles per gram per minute and
be slow but, for large H,O/CO feed ratios, the oxidation T in kelvins.
of CO is the controlling step (industrial converter oper- The most popular kinetics expression used in the design
ates at high H,O/CO ratios). In this case, these authors of the industrial reactor is that proposed by Moe [2, 36,
postulate the following kinetic expression: 371:
1855.5
r = 1.85 x 10m5 exp 12.88 -T kOPH,Ofl - P)
>
Pco, 02,
(5)
1,/r (l,‘mol;‘g/ s)
6200
P
5200 !"
/
4200
3200
Fig. 3. Verification of the kinetic model used in this work. (Reaction rate)- ’ vs conversion, adiabatic path, for Moe [2] and our
kinetics expressions. To = 453 K.
~ll/&/TF’
F r/
- Model III + MOE (2) - MOE (:2) - Model III
4.50.
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0
Dimensionless position
Fig. 4. (a, b) Conversion and temperature profiles predicted using MOoe[2] and our kinetics expressions. T” = 453 K, P = 22 x 10’
Pa, $o = 2.5 x 10” Pa, pi.o = 8.14 x lo5 Pa, pi, = 6 x 10’ Pa. Pco, = 1.65 x IO5 Pa, M = 2.043 x IO’ g, F& = 0.216 mol s-l.
manufacture of ammonia. The good agreement between The conversion and temperature profiles predicted by
industrial and simulated compositions indicates the ad- simulation using our kinetic expression are very similar
equacy of the kinetics expression obtained in this work to those predicted using the empirical expression pro-
and the algorithm used in the simulation. The agreement posed by Moe [Z].
between both simulations should also be noted. In summary, a kinetic expression has been proposed
This agreement is not limited to the prediction of the in harmony with a Langmuir- Hinshelwood-type mech-
outlet values of conversion and temperature. The con- anism at least at the operating conditions and with the
version and temperature profiles obtained applying equa- commercial catalyst used in this work. In addition, it has
tions (9) or (lo), for different industrial operating condi- been proved that this expression can be used to simulate
tions, are shown in Fig. 4(a) and (b). It can be seen that and, in consequence, to design an industrial low-tempera-
the simulation using the reaction rate deduced from this ture converter.
work predicts conversion and temperature profiles very It was not the aim of this work to elucidate the WGSR
similar to those obtained using the empirical reaction mechanism; but, if it is accepted that “the chemical
rate proposed by Moe [2]. kinetics is a field in which mechanistic knowledge and
hypotheses are translated into useful equations that
describe these processes in terms ofconstants independent
of the composition of reactants and products and of the
reaction conditions” [23, 381, it must be concluded that
CONCLUSIONS
the kinetics expression proposed in this work satisfies
In the present paper attention was centred on repro- these requirements.
ducing the industrial procedure, i.e. kinetic data were
obtained using a commercial catalyst (CuO/ZnO/Al,O,) Acknowlrdgrments---The authors thank CONICET (Consejo
and feed compositions similar to those of an industrial National de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnicas), the Univer-
reactor. sidad de Buenos Aires and the Antorchas Foundation for
WGSR kinetic was determined in an integral reactor, financial support. They also thank Dr Graciela Cerrella for the
using an integral procedure and a data treatment valid experimental work.
for near equilibrium conditions. A Langmuir-Hinshel-
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