Solution of Noncatalytic Packed Bed Reactors Equations

The partial differential equations describing reaction of a trace component in the gas stream in a packed bed of solid reactant or adsorbent are solved by Rayleigh-Ritz finite element method. These equations consist of a PDE along the reactor which is accompanied with semi time dependent diffusion-reaction equation in each pellet. Two gas-solid reaction models have been considered as the reaction rate expression of the pellets in this work. These reaction rates provide nonlinearity in the PDEs of the pellets. Reactions with considerable structural changes such as sulfation of calcined limestone in packed column have been considered too. The finite element method analyzed the PDEs equations, even in the presence of steep gradients associated with nonlinearities along the packed column and the pellets equations.