Abstract

PERNETT BOLANO, Leda; OCHOA MARTINEZ, Iván A.; ROBLEDO BARRIOS, Mauricio E.  and  RUEDA DURAN, César A.. Modeling and simulation of a catalytic reactor for the oxidation of SO₂ to SO₃, using V₂O₅ as catalyst. Prospect. [online]. 2016, vol.14, n.1, pp.39-46. ISSN 1692-8261.  https://doi.org/10.15665/rp.v14i1.647.

The H₂SO₄ is one of the chemicals of greatest importance in the industry. Currently H₂SO₄ is produced by the double contact process, where, the Sulfuric acid precursor SO₃ is formed from the SO₂ oxidation in a catalytic packed bed reactor, using V₂O₅ as catalyst. During the process, a small amount of SO₂ is emitted to the atmosphere. The modeling of the catalytic reactor, where this process is carried out, is made considering the kinetic and thermodynamic perspective. In addition, a simulation program in MATLAB^® is created that allows the study of the behavior of the reactor in terms of conversion, temperature and pressure drop, and makes assessments of the environmental compliance of SO₂ emissions as well. The model was validated by comparing results of simulation with real data. Two hypotheses were evaluated using simulations in SolidWorks^®, Aspen HYSYS^® and statistical tools to determine the causes of the deviations, and an adjustment on the model was made. The results show a normal distribution of the errors, with an average close to 0% with a deviation of 4%, produced possibly because of errors in the SO₂ measurement in the inlet of the reactor and the variability inherent to the process.

Keywords : Modeling; Simulation; Oxidation; Sulphur oxides; Vanadium pentoxide; Sulphuric acid.

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