Patent ID: 8492587

Claim:
A cylindrical reactor for preparing phosgene, the reactor comprising: a bundle of catalyst tubes which are arranged parallel to one another in the longitudinal direction of a reactor and are welded at each of their two ends into a tube plate, such that introduction to and discharge from the catalyst tubes is, in each case, through a cap; introduction and discharge facilities for flowing a liquid heat transfer medium through an intermediate space between the catalyst tubes within a shell; and a plurality of deflection plates for guiding the flow of the heat transfer medium in the intermediate space, said deflection plates arranged such that alternating openings exist on opposite sides at an interior wall of the reactor, in which openings the deflection plates have cutouts having the shape of a segment of a circle, wherein: the reactor has no tubes in the region of the alternating openings; heat transfer coefficients at interfaces between the catalyst tubes and the heat transfer medium are equalized over each reactor cross section by flow paths of the heat transfer medium in each reactor cross section being matched to one another by an altered arrangement of the catalyst tubes such that at least one lateral boundary of the bundle of catalyst tubes is not in the shape of a chord of a circle, said flow paths in each case measured from a first catalyst tube to a last catalyst tube in a flow direction of the heat transfer medium.