Tank car conversion into a reactor is undertaken herein for some large scale industrial processes of solids reacting with liquids to yield liquid products. The model loads liquid directly to the tank car, using it as the reactor as well. Savings accrue over the usual unit operation where the solids in the tank car are off-loaded to a reactor, then liquid is added to the reactor for solid conversion into a liquid product before reloading product to the tank car for customer delivery. Several analytical tools are used together to yield a sound picture of fluid flow in the tank car and its bed mass profile during the progress of bed reaction. This provides a basis for business and plant operation decisions.
©2012 Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG, Berlin/Boston