Modeling of methanol synthesis in a 3-phase fixed-bed reactor

Abstract The authors propose a new reactor concept for Methanol Synthesis from CO + CO 2 + H 2 mixtures : a down-flow, liquid-continuous, fixed-bed reactor operating at high liquid circulating rate. The two reversible reactions for methanol and water production are modeled simultaneously to provide information for reactor sizing and scaling up. A method for derivating expressions to easily calculate the concentration profiles of the five reacting species inside the catalyst pellets is introduced.