Catalytic reactor for the production of methanol, ammonia, synthesis gas and higher alcohols
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention relates, in general, to reaction vessel construction and in particular to a new and useful catalyst bed reactor for the catalytic exothermic and endothermic reaction to produce methanol, ammonia and synthesis gas and higher alcohols. 
     The invention relates particularly to a vertical reactor for the production of methanol, ammonia, synthesis gas and higher alcohols. 
     A reactor for catalytic reactions, especially for the production of methanol, is known from DE-OS No. 32 33 049. In it, a recirculation pipe jacket extends from an upper collecting ring to a lower distributing ring, the jacket&#39;s pipes being constructed as reinforced pipe sections in the upper and lower section of the reactor. Into these pipes lead so-called handle pipes, whose vertical sections form passageways in which the reactive mass is found, the reactive mass resting on a mesh in the lower region of the oven. 
     A reactor is known from DE-OS No. 33 34 775, defining the generic character of the primary claim, in which the replacement of the exchanger pipes connected with the supporting headers requires the separation of each exchange pipe from the supporting header, or the separation of the supporting header, with all of the exchanger pipes connected with it, from the upper and lower collecting and distributing pipe. 
     With regard to this known reactor, the proposition of the invention is to develop a less expensive and structurally simpler construction of the connection of the exchanger pipes with the supporting headers or collecting and distributing pipes, with which a good replaceability and repairability of the exchanger pipes and a more advantageous stationary connection of the exchanger pipes with the collecting and distributing pipes are provided. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     In the reactor, according to the invention, the connecting sites of the exchanger pipes connected with the supporting headers are readily accessible from above or below, so that the replacement of several exchanger pipes is possible without all the exchanger pipes connected with a supporting header having to be loosened from the supporting headers, or the supporting headers from the distributing and collecting pipes. 
     A uniform static stress on the supporting headers is produced, in addition to a good accessibility of the connection sites of the exchanger pipes connected with them, if, in a round reactor, the collecting and distributing pipes are curved, and the intermediate ducts are connected with them by pairs symmetrical to the longitudinal center of the collecting and distributing pipes. A uniform space between the supporting headers and between the exchanger pipes connected with them ensures a good accessibility and repairability of the exchanger pipes and a uniform stress on the distributing and collecting pipes, as well as on the supporting headers. 
     In contrast to the prior art, the exchanger pipes of the reactor according to the invention exert only a vertical force on the parts supporting them and connected with them; the connecting sites of the exchanger pipes with the supporting headers are readily accessible from above or below, so that the replacement of several exchanger pipes is possible without the entire tube bundle having to be lifted out of the reactor. Also, the removal of the reactive mass from the interior of the reactor, which contains the exchanger pipes and is enclosed by a circular apron, can be readily undertaken. 
     Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide a reactor which comprises a vessel jacket including a central cylindrical portion with a top lid portion and a floor portion and with either or two curved collecting pipes arranged in the lid portion symmetrically on respective sides of the transverse central plane of the vessel jacket and a heat exchanger supporting header is arranged below and substantially transverse to collecting pipes and is connected by symmetrically arranged ducts to the collecting pipes, and wherein a plurality of heat exchanger tubes are arranged in vertical arrays below and connected to the upper supporting header connected at their lower ends to a lower supporting header which, in turn, is connected to symmetrically arranged distributor pipes connected to one or more inlets and wherein the catalyst&#39;s permeable floor is supported on bearing means below a lower heat exchanger supporting header for supporting a catalytic mass thereover between all of the heat exchanger pipes. 
     A further object of the invention is to provide a reactor which is simple in design, rugged in construction and economical to manufacture. 
     The various features of novelty which characterize the invention are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure. For a better understanding of the invention, its operating advantages and specific objects attained by its uses, reference is made to the accompanying drawings and descriptive matter in which preferred embodiments of the invention are illustrated. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     In the Drawings: 
     FIG. 1 is a combined vertical longitudinal sectional view through a reactor taken in two separate planes perpendicular to each other and constructed according to the invention for carrying out an exothermic reaction, e.g. for the production of methanol; 
     FIG. 2 is a horizontal cross-section through the upper portion of the reactor; 
     FIG. 3 is a cross-section through the middle; 
     FIG. 4 is a horizontal cross-section through the lower section of the reactor; 
     FIGS. 5 and 6 are vertical sectional views on a lager scale with respect to FIG. 1 of the lower region of the reactor showing the floor supporting the reactive mass and 
     FIG. 7 is a view similar to FIGS. 5 and 6 showing a detail of this floor. 
    
    
     GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     Referring to the drawings, in particular, the invention embodied therein comprises a reactor vessel generally designated 1 which includes a central cylindrical portion 2, a top lid portion 3, and a floor portion 4. In accordance with the invention, at least one curved collecting pipe, preferably two collecting pipes 7 and 8 are arranged in a lid portion symmetrically in respect to a central transverse plane Q (FIG. 2) above an array of vertically extending heat exchanger tubes 20 which are supported between an upper supporting header 14 and a lower supporting header 23. In addition, the gas permeable catalyst floor 27 is supported on bearing means 25 and carries a catalyst mass which extends between the heat exchanger tubes. 
     The reactor 1 has a cylindrical pressure jacket 2, to which are attached the lid 3 on the top and the similarly curved floor 4 on the bottom. Discharge pipes 6, for the heated medium, project through outlet ducts 5 into the interior of the reactor and there lead into two horizontal curved collecting pipes 7, 8. In the example shown, both pipes 7, 8 are arranged symmetrically to the transverse central plane Q of the reactor. 
     Intermediate ducts 9, 10, 11, 12 lead off from the curved collecting pipes 7, 8, the intermediate ducts lying, e.g. by fours, in a common plane and arranged by pairs symmetrical to the vertical central plane 13 of the pipes 7, 8, and leading into the supporting headers 14 at equal intervals. The supporting headers extend in a horizontal plane and are equidistantly parallel to each other. 
     Instead of the two collecting pipes 7, 8, it is possible to provide a single pipe in the transverse central plane Q, from which intermediate ducts, similar to the intermediate ducts 9-12, again run out leading into the supporting headers 14. In doing so, it must be taken into consideration that such a construction places high demands on the central collecting pipe, on which the entire bundle of heat exchanger pipes depends, as is described more precisely below. It is therefore advantageous to divide such a single pipe into the two curved supporting pipes 7, 8 represented in FIG. 2, which are then arranged symmetrical to the central plane Q and extend over the center of the pipe-halves of the pipes 6, i.e. extending centered above the halved pipe-lengths A,A&#39; and A&#34;, for example FIG. 2. The central plane Q lies on the longitudinal axis of the jacket 2 and extends in a first transverse direction in the space defined by the jacket. The jacket also has a second transverse direction extending transversely to the first transverse direction. 
     In doing so, the intermediate ducts 9-12 lead into the collecting pipes 7, 8 in the lower and middle region. 
     The ends 15, 16 of the heat exchanger pipes 17, 18 lead into the lower region of the upper supporting headers 14. In doing so, the ends 15, 16 protrude outwards, as seen in FIG. 1, so that an advantageous connection of the pipes 17, 18 with the supporting headers 14 can result. The pipes 17, 18, to be designated as primary exchanger pipes, are arranged in the first transverse direction at intervals a, and in the second transverse direction, in the longitudinal direction of the supporting headers, they are connected with the supporting headers at intervals b. Upper secondary headers 19 extend just below the lateral protuberance, between the upper section of adjacent pipes 17, 18 at intervals a, on which upper headers depend additional exchanger pipes 20 at intervals b which run parallel to pipes 17, 18, so that, as seen in FIG. 3, a closed field is formed of parallel vertical exchanger pipes 17, 18 and 20 in the horizontal cross-section of the center section of the reactor, the exchanger pipes being equidistant from each other between which the catalyst mass is found. 
     The lower ends 21, 22 of the primary exchanger pipes 17, 18 lead into the lower supporting headers 23, which have the same arrangement as the upper supporting headers 14. The ends 21, 22 of the primary exchanger pipes 17, 18 are thus constructed in the same way as the upper ends 15, 16 of these pipes, as a lower secondary header 24 is also provided between the adjacent pipes 21, 22 at intervals a, the lower ends of the exchanger pipes 20 leading into said lower header. Said ends may also lead into the supporting headers 14, 23 through Y-pipes, instead of the lateral protuberances of the upper and lower ends of the pipes 17, 18. 
     The lower supporting headers 23, running parallel to the upper supporting headers 14, have semi-circular bearings 25 underneath, which line up with each other in the transverse direction of the pipes 23 and several of them are arranged across the length of each supporting header 23. Between adjacent, lining up with each other bearings 25 are arranged shafts 26 to which elements 27 are fastened next to each other, groups of the elements 27, by fours in the represented example, forming a section 28 of the catalyst floor, this section lying in a plane e when in the folded-upward operation position 27 (FIGS. 6 and 7, in the inked-in line). The elements 27 of the sections 28 forming the catalyst floor are gas-permeable. The outer elements 27a, 27b of a section 28 lie, in the folded-upward position of the sections, next to the pipes 23. The catalyst mass rests on the sections 28 which, viewed from the top, form a square with a side length somewhat smaller than the interval a. 
     The back side 29 adjacent to the shaft 26 has an indent 30, while the front side 31 of each element 27, facing away from the shaft 26, has a lug-like projection 32 (see FIG. 6). The construction and arrangement of the projection 32 and of the indent 30 is set up so that, in the folded-upward operating position of the sections 28, the sections hold each other in a position by the meshing of adjacent indents and projections, the last section of each row (in FIG. 1, the one on the left-hand edge of the drawing) to be conceived as fixed. If this one is disconnected and swings downwards, first the projection and indent of the section next to this first section fall out of engagement, so that it swings downwards between the pipes 23 and all the remaining sections, whose shafts line up with each other, do the same, as e.g. the shafts 26&#39;, 26&#34;, 26&#39;&#34;, etc. in FIG. 5. 
     The lower supporting headers 23 are connected with two distributing pipes 37, 38 through intermediate ducts 34, 35, 36, the distributing pipes being arranged symmetrical to the transverse central plane Q and leading into half of all the intermediate ducts 34, 35, 36. The distributing pipes are connected with the feed pipes 40, which extend through an inlet duct 41 in the floor 4 of the reactor. The floor shows the effluent pipe 42 for the medium, flowing in the direction of arrow K, which enters the reactor through the entry pipe 43 of the lid 3 in the direction of arrow S. 
     The exchanger pipe bundle of pipes 17-20 is enclosed by an apron 44. 
     FIG. 7 represents the middle section of the lower region of the reactor containing the catalyst floor, as it may be advantageously constructed by using the previously described hinged floor sections 28. A continuous horizontal shaft 45 extends parallel to the individual shafts 26, in the vertical central plane of the reactor W, across the entire cross-section of the reactor, this shaft being rotatable by means not represented and bearing supports 46, at least the distance of the individual floor sections from each other, which are immovably connected with the shaft 45. These supports have two supporting surfaces 47, 48 symmetrical to the perpendicular central axis of the shaft 45 and to the central plane of the reactor W, on which are braced supporting surfaces 49, 50 of the facing elements 27 of the middle floor sections 28, the arrangement of the sections being set up so that they will tilt in opposite directions on each side of plane W. (Cf. arrox x, y in FIG. 7). The shaft 45 represents a sort of balance arm with the supporting surfaces. By rotating the shaft 45 counter-clockwise, for example, the right-hand section 28a first becomes free also. If the floor sections 28 jam, e.g. as a result of the catalyst mass burning, the appropriate edges of the supports 46 push against attachments or tappets 51, 52 on the lower end of the supporting surfaces 49, 50 of elements 27 or of the sections 28. At times, a rotation of shaft 45° by 90° is thus necessary in order to open the next section 28. 
     The area 53 between the pivoted front sides 54, 55 of the sections 28a, 28b next to each other in the center of the reactor is covered by roof-like part 56 whose side pieces 56, 58 are fitted to the front sides 54, 55 of the elements 27. 
     In order to carry out an endothermic reaction, the exchanger pipes 17, 18 are filled with a heating medium; the collecting and distributing pipes 6, 7 or 37, 38 are connected with the appropriate feed and discharge pipes. 
     While specific embodiments of the invention have been shown and described in detail to illustrate the application of the principles of the invention, it will be understood that the invention may be embodied otherwise without departing from such principles.