Patent ID: 9278891
Filing Date: 2016-03-08
CPC Classification: B01J,C07C,C10G

Claim Text:
1. Apparatus for conducting a three-phase reaction, in which gaseous reactants are reacted in the presence of a finely divided solid catalyst in suspension in a liquid comprising, at least in part, the reaction product of the gaseous reactants, thereby forming a slurry, the apparatus comprising a reactor vessel, a primary filter unit, a filtrate cleaning unit, a degasser unit, and a filtrate buffer unit, and in which: the reactor vessel includes a reactant inlet and a gas outlet and is arranged to contain the slurry in use; the primary filter unit is arranged to be in contact with slurry in use, the primary filter unit having an outlet for primary filtrate; the filtrate cleaning unit is arranged to remove further particulate material from the filtrate in use, and includes an inlet for the filtrate, an outlet for liquid product that has been subjected to cleaning; the degasser unit is located between the primary filter unit and the filtrate cleaning unit; and the filtrate buffer unit is arranged to receive cleaned liquid product from the filtrate cleaning unit, the filtrate buffer unit having liquid product outlet, a liquid product recycle line from the filtrate buffer unit directly to the reactor vessel which conveys the liquid product from the filtrate buffer unit directly into the reactor vessel without passing through the primary filter unit, and an optional liquid product recycle line to the primary filter unit.