Catalytic Dehydration of Glycerol to Acrolein in a Two-Zone Fluidized Bed Reactor.

The gas-phase catalytic dehydration of glycerol to acrolein was carried out in a Two-Zone Fluidized-Bed Reactor (TZFBR) using a 20 wt. % phosphotungstic acid (H3PW12O40) catalyst supported on CARIACT-Q10 commercial silica. In the first step, a hydrodynamic study of the reactor was performed. A quality of fluidization of more than 80% was obtained. In the second step, the mechanical stability of the catalyst was studied. It was found that only the external layer of active phase is eliminated under the conditions of operation whereas the global composition of the catalyst was not significantly affected after 44 h of fluidization. Finally, in a third step, the influence of the main operating parameters on the overall catalytic performances (glycerol/oxygen molar ratio and relative volumes of the reaction and regeneration zones) was investigated, showing notably the importance of the O2/glycerol ratio, resulting in an inverse trend between conversion and selectivity. Increasing O2/glycerol ratio led to higher conversion (lower coke deposit as shown by TGA analysis), but to the detriment of the selectivity to acrolein, supposedly due to the presence of O2 in the reaction zone causing the degradation of glycerol and acrolein.

Damage in agitated vessels of large visco-elastic particles dispersed in a highly viscous fluid.

UNLABELLED: Many food recipes entail several homogenization steps for solid particles in hot or cold viscous liquids, such as pureed fruit and sugar, jam or sauce with mushroom pieces. Unfortunately, these unavoidable processes induce damage to the solid particles. To date, little is known of the extent and nature of the damage caused. Consequently, few clear guidelines are available for monitoring solid particle integrity when mixing solid/liquid suspensions in an agitated tank. In this study, an attempt is made to quantify the impact of various physical parameters including the influence of the rotational speed of the impeller and the processing time on particle attrition, when a suspension of large visco-elastic particles in a highly viscous fluid is mixed under isothermal condition. Pectin gel particles were immerged in a viscous liquid and homogenized for various times and rotational speeds, while the evolution of the particle's morphological parameters was monitored. Then, a set of dimensionless numbers governing the attrition mechanism is established and some empirical process relationships are proposed to correlate these numbers to the morphological characteristics and mass balance ratios. From the conditions observed, it is clear that 2 dimensionless ratios could be responsible for a change in the damaging mechanisms. These 2 ratios are the Froude and impeller rotation numbers. Finally, in the conditions tested, mass balance ratios appear to be mainly sensitive to the impeller rotational number, while the shape ratios are both impacted by the Froude and impeller rotational numbers. PRACTICAL APPLICATION: Damage to solid particles suspended in a stirred vessel reduce the final product quality in industrial cooking processes. Examples of this are fruit in jam or sauces with mushroom pieces. The attrition phenomenon was measured and the influences of the impeller rotational speed and processing time were evaluated quantitatively in function of dimensionless numbers. This study contributes key elements for the monitoring of damage to solids with a view to retaining solid integrity.