A reactor, which includes a reactor body and two reactor ends sealing the ends of the reactor body, a plurality of reactor tubes extending inside the reactor body at least partially between the reactor ends, and at least one heat pipe disposed inside at least one of the reactor tubes.

Axial reactor for exothermic or endothermic chemical reactions, comprising at least a first catalytic bed (3) and a second catalytic bed (4) operating in series and at least one heat exchanger (5) between the two catalytic beds, wherein the first catalytic bed has a collector bottom (6) having a box-like structure with flat and parallel walls, which are gas-permeable, and a plurality of parallel channels (15, 16) defined between the walls, wherein a first series of said channels collects the gaseous flow exiting the catalytic bed and passing through the first wall, said gaseous flow is directed towards the heat exchanger, and the flow exiting the exchanger is directed towards the second catalytic bed via a second series of said channels of the collector bottom.

A heat exchanger having a housing, which defines a first volume (V1), and having at least one conduit, which defines a second volume (V2), wherein the housing has an inlet and an outlet and at least one first opening and at least one second opening located opposite the first opening relative to the housing, wherein the at least one conduit extends through the first volume (V1) and connects the at least one first opening of the housing and the at least one second opening of the housing, and is connected at the two ends of the conduit to the housing in a fluid-tight manner. In order to provide a heat exchanger which has an improved possibility for compensating for the differential thermal expansion of the housing and the conduits, the at least one conduit does not extend in a linear manner inside the first volume (V1), and the at least one conduit is monolithically connected in the region of the first opening of the conduit and/or the second opening of the conduit to the housing.

In a converter for the catalytic oxidation of SO.sub.2 to SO.sub.3 in a sulfuric acid plant, which comprises a boiler section for the cooling of process gas between catalytic layers (beds), one or more water tube boilers (inter-bed boilers) having horizontal or slightly sloped tubes are used to cool the process gas between the catalytic layers (beds) in the converter. Each water tube boiler is provided with a process gas side bypass to control the temperature to the down-stream catalyst layer.

Tube-bundle heat exchange unit (1) for internals of heat exchangers or reactors, comprising: at least one tube bundle (2); a plurality of baffles (3) associated with said tube bundle and defining through-openings according to a predefined arrangement, each opening being passed through by one of more tubes of the tube bundle, and a shell (6) which surrounds said tube bundle and said baffles, wherein the assembly of the tube bundle and the shell can be disassembled and the shell is structurally collaborating with the tube bundle through said baffles.

In a method for cooling of process gas between catalytic layers or beds in a sulfuric acid plant, in which sulfuric acid is produced from feed gases containing sulfurous components like SO.sub.2, H.sub.2S, CS.sub.2 and COS or liquid feeds like molten sulfur or spent sulfuric acid, one or more boilers, especially water tube boilers, are used instead of conventional steam superheaters to cool the process gas between the catalytic beds in the SO.sub.2 converter of the plant. Thereby a less complicated and more cost efficient heat exchanger layout is obtained.

The present invention relates to a shell-and-tube type reactor for reforming natural gas and a method for manufacturing syngas or hydrogen gas by using the same. According to the present invention, a shell-and-tube type reactor for reforming natural gas comprises a reaction catalyst for reforming natural gas, which is filled in a reactor shell; at least one tube for separating hydrogen; and a tube for an exothermic reaction or a tube type heat-exchanger for heating, which is disposed at the center of the reactor so as to have excellent operating efficiency and enable production of high-purity hydrogen and collection of carbon dioxide simultaneously along with a reaction.

Described is an industrial scale chemical reactor or reactor containing a shell having an inner wall, and at least one channel inside the shell. The shell has a circular, square, or rectangular cross-sectional area. All of the internal dimensions of the channel are greater than 10 mm, and optionally less than 50 mm. The channel has a rectangular cross-sectional area, and contains a catalyst bed containing catalyst particles and/or pieces containing catalyst particles packed inside the channel. The reactor has improved shell volume utilization, catalyst loading capacities, heat exchange efficiency, process intensification, or combinations thereof, compared to currently existing reactors. Exothermic reactions, such as the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis can be performed inside the channels of the reactor. Also described are methods of making the reactor.

A heat exchanger type reaction tube includes a first tube part that forms a first flow channel into which a feed gas flows and in which the feed gas moves down; a second tube part that forms a second flow channel which is connected to the first flow channel and in which the feed gas moves up and that has a granular catalyst carrying support medium charged therein; and a heating device that heats the first tube part and the second tube part. Then, the first flow channel and the second flow channel are adjacent to each other while being separated from each other by a partition wall, and the second flow channel is provided with a distributor which holds the catalyst carrying support medium and through which the feed gas passes.

The present invention relates to a hydrogen generator, and the purpose of the present invention is to provide a hydrogen generator wherein thermal efficiency is maximized, structural changes according to amounts of production are easily implemented, and DME is used as the main source material.