Patent ID: 8597586

Claim:
A shell-and-tube reactor comprising: a cylindrical housing closed off at lower and upper ends by lower and upper end caps, respectively; contact tubes disposed within the housing, the contact tubes being secured to tube plates, wherein the cylindrical housing and contact tubes are adapted to receive a gas phase matter and a liquid phase matter via at least one feed opening in the lower end cap, the gas and liquid phase matters being discharged via the upper end cap; and a distributor device for a gas phase/liquid phase mixture, the distributor device being disposed below the lowermost tube plate and comprising: a distributor plate arranged horizontally within the housing, the distributor plate including an active area with through-openings, wherein number and arrangement of the through-openings correspond to a plane of the contact tubes in the tube plate, the diameter of the through-openings being from 0.5 to 20% of an internal diameter of one of the contact tubes, and a downward-extending margin, wherein the distributor plate does not extend over the entire cross section of the housing; and a predistributor having a second distributor plate having a smaller diameter than the diameter of the first distributor plate, the second distributor plate being disposed between the feed opening and the first distributor plate, and including a second active area with second through-openings and a second downward-extending margin.