Patent ID: 6994833

Claim:
A shell-and-tube type reactor comprising: a shell in which a plurality of reaction tubes are held with a first tube sheet and a second tube sheet in the reactor; a raw material inlet equipped in the first tube sheet side of the shell; a product outlet equipped in the second tube sheet side of the shell; an intermediate tube sheet provided horizontally in the shell wherein the reaction tube is expanded to at least one groove formed in the reaction tube-fixing part of the intermediate tube sheet for substantially shielding spaces between the tubes and partitioned with the intermediate tube sheet to form a shield for partitioning a plurality of chambers; and an expansion joint formed around the periphery of each of the chambers, wherein the expansion joints are capable of absorbing distortion generated by an increase or decrease of heat of a heat medium, and wherein a migration of the heat medium between the chambers partitioned with the shield is repressed when the chambers are substantially closed, and a reaction or treatment in the one chamber is performed at a different temperature from that in the other chamber, and wherein an amount of water migrating from the upper chamber to the lower chamber, and from the lower chamber to the upper chamber, fulfills the relation, amount of leakage (ml/hour per reaction tube)≦1.27×10 −5 ×pressure difference (Pa), in a hydraulic test.