Comparison of Reactive\nDistillation Packings Used\nfor 1‑Butene Isomerization

The reactive distillation process of 1-butene isomerization\nis\nan important technique for utilizing abundant C4 hydrocarbons, and\nusing proper reactive distillation packings is critical to the performance\nof this process. Herein, two typical packings are compared in terms\nof hydrodynamic properties and reaction-separation performance for\n1-butene isomerization. Compared to Katapak packing, the dynamic liquid\nholdup of Lummus packing is less sensitive to the change of liquid\nflow density and gas-phase kinetic energy factor, and its wet pressure\ndrop is lower at high gas and liquid flow rates. These differences\nin hydrodynamic properties can be attributed to the higher void fraction\nand larger flow channels of Lummus packing and indicate that Lummus\npacking is better in operational flexibility. The simulations show\nthat using Katapak in the reactive distillation column yields higher\n1-butene conversion and 2-butene purity in the product, indicating\nthat Katapak is better in the reaction-separation performance. This\ncan be attributed to the higher catalyst filling capacity and larger\nspecific surface area of Katapak. These results should serve to guide\nthe selection and design of reactive distillation packings for 1-butene\nisomerization.