Patent ID: 6989131

Claim:
A reactor for evaporating liquid feed and reacting said feed in the presence of catalyst to make product, comprising: a housing having at least one inlet and at least one outlet, said housing encasing an evaporation zone and a reaction zone; an injector passing through the inlet of the housing and having an orifice for introducing liquid feed, said orifice being in the evaporation zone; an insert containing packing for vaporizing the liquid feed to form a vapor, the packing being in the evaporation zone; wherein the injector orifice and the packing define a gap between the orifice and the packing, the gap being sufficiently small to interfere with the formation of a drop at the orifice; a receptacle for retaining catalyst, the catalyst being in the reaction zone; a diluent gas mixing zone near the outlet of the housing for diluting the product and unreacted feeds; and at least one heater associated with at least a portion of the reactor.