Open loop thermal control of exothermal chemical reactions in multifunctional heat exchangers

Sébastien Ferrouillat (1) , Patrice Tochon (1) , Dominique Della Valle (2) , Hassan Peerhossaini (2)

1 GRETh/LETH - Laboratoire Systèmes Thermiques
2 LTN - Laboratoire de thermocinétique [Nantes]

This paper presents an experimental study which demonstrates the potentiality of multifunctional heat exchangers (MHE) to carry out exothermal chemical reactions by the local control of the reactive environment temperature. Two highly exothermal chemical reactions with different kinetics (instantaneous and fast) have been investigated. The MHE is found to be very efficient in extracting the heat released by the chemical reactions. Due to its large heat transfer capacity, this process allows to increase considerably inlet reactant concentrations without thermal runaway and thus to enhance both chemical reaction conversion ratio and yield. This study also shows the limitations of the multifunctional heat exchanger for exothermal and instantaneous chemical reactions.

Mots clés: Heat exchanger-reactor; Chemical reactor; Heat exchanger; Thermal control of chemical reactions; Multifunctional compact heat exchanger; Exothermal chemical reaction; Micro-mixing; Offset strip fins

Domaines: Mécanique des fluides [physics.class-ph]; Mécanique des fluides [physics.class-ph]

Sébastien Ferrouillat, Patrice Tochon, Dominique Della Valle, Hassan Peerhossaini. Open loop thermal control of exothermal chemical reactions in multifunctional heat exchangers. International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, 2006, 49 (15-16), pp.2479-2490. ⟨10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2006.01.023⟩. ⟨hal-00205080⟩