Horizontal fixed bed reactor for Claus Tail Gas reduction 2

[zorn]

Hello,

do someone know how a horizontal fixed bed reactor work?I've always seen fixed bed reactors with inlet and outlet at the top and bottom of the reactor, but the one in the picture i have attached, has inlet and outlet on the long side. Is it a sort of divided flow?What kind of flow exist in this kind of reactor?

thank you,
zorn

 

[zorn]

oops, the image is:

http://img517.imageshack.us/img517/3206/reactor.jpg

 

[Chance17]

For what ever reason, the equipment is configured for low pressure drop.
It reminds me of ammonia or methanol systhesis reactors,
i.e shallow catalyst depth to keep DeltaP low while maintaining a high gas circulation through the bed.
But I have never seen a design as per your picture.

 

[Jason5000]

This is a pretty normal configuration for a Claus tail gas treating unit hydrogenation reactor. As Yitbos notes, low pressure drop is key because the upstream Claus plant is a low pressure unit. This vessel is not divided flow; though in some small Claus units you will find a reactor such as this divided into two or three bays for separate catalytic stages. In larger sulfur plants the reactors are typically separate vessels that look just like your image.