Patent ID: 6960325

Claim:
A catalytic hydrocracking reactor vessel for the conversion of a hydrogen gas and fossil fuel feedstream to light liquid hydrocarbons, said vessel comprising: reactor cup shell-in-shell riser means containing an integrated cyclonic helical separator conduit for receiving and cyclonically separating a liquid and vapor product stream to provide an essentially vapor-free liquid and/or solids free recycle stream; and grid plate bubble cap means; comprising a round, tapered wall boll cap housing having a closed top and open bottom with serrated bottom edges, wherein the top of the bell cap housing is connected to the closed top of an inner pipe of a shell-in-shell conduit, an outer pipe of which is closed at the top in contact with a near top part of the inner pipe and terminates with a serrated edge above the terminus of the inner pipe; wherein both the inner and outer pipes contain slots at their top sides that communicate with the interior space of the bell cap housing to admit vapor from a shell-in-shell annulus and liquid and vapor from the inner pipe into the interior space of the bell cap; the hydrocracking reactor vessel optionally comprising one or more of: feedstream inlet pipe sparger means containing downward directed slotted openings sized and positioned for even distribution of the feedstream across the cross-sectional area of the reactor and providing free downward drain of solid particles from the sparger means; and liquid recycle inlet distributor means containing vertically curved plates for creating a whirling motion in the liquid recycle stream exiting the distributor means, thereby providing better mixing of the recycle with the feedstream and less solid settling.