Patent ID: 7780926
Filing Date: 2010-08-24
Classification: B01J,F28D,F28F

Abstract:
1. Process for carrying out heat exchange reactions comprising: introducing a reactant stream into a bed of catalytic material placed outside at least one double walled heat transfer tube comprising an inner heat transfer tube placed within an outer heat transfer tube in a heat exchange reactor, the at least one double walled heat transfer tube defining an annular volume; and contacting the reactant stream with the catalytic material in indirect heat exchange with a heat transfer medium present in the annular volume of the at least one double walled heat transfer tube, wherein the annular volume comprises at least two spacer elements along a length of the double walled heat transfer tube, the spacer elements having a spacer length in a longitudinal direction of the double walled heat transfer tube, the spacer length being smaller than the length of the double walled heat transfer tube, the spacer elements creating a helical flow path of the heat transfer medium around a heat transfer tube of the at least one double walled heat transfer tube, such that the heat transfer medium flows past areas of alternately low and high heat transport and thereby experiences similar conditions throughout its volume, and wherein the spacer elements are formed integrally in the inner heat transfer tube or in the outer heat transfer tube.