Modeling and Scale-up of Sitosterol Hydrogenation Process: From Laboratory Slurry Reactor to Plant Scale

The hydrogenation kinetics of an industrially relevant mixture of sterols was studied over a commercial palladium catalyst in a laboratory reactor. The experimental data was used to estimate the kinetic parameters for the proposed reaction network. The kinetic parameters estimated from experimental data described very well the concentrations of the stanol and sterol compounds. These parameters were used to simulate the industrial reactor, calculating the gas-liquid mass-transfer coefficients of hydrogen. The simulation of the plant-scale reactor, which was based on the kinetic parameters estimated from laboratory data, was successful for the description of the main products and reactants.