SBCRs are employed to conduct many chemical reactions, particularly reactions in which the reactants are gaseous, the products include liquids, and a solid catalyst is required. In such a reaction, the gaseous reactants are introduced into a slurry of finely divided catalyst in a liquid medium which may contain a liquid reaction product. The gas introduction is achieved using a gas distributor.
A gas distributor for a slurry bubble column should satisfy some important requirements, which include, for example:
The gas should be rapidly mixed into the slurry, the catalyst particles should be well dispersed over a wide range of flow to the reactor, stagnant zones, especially at the bottom of the reactor, must be reduced or avoided, penetration of catalyst particles into the gas distributor must be minimized, erosion of reactor walls and internals should be reduced or avoided, the distributor should not induce unacceptable attrition of the catalyst, and the pressure drop should be low, for economic reasons.
These requirements are addressed in WO 2005/094979, for example.