The invention relates to a reformer furnace for catalytic reforming of a carbon-containing input material with steam. The reformer furnace has a steel construction which serves as a framework for a refractory lining and for the fastening of burners, reformer tubes and supply and discharge lines. The burners and reformer tubes are arranged in rows, parallel to one another and in alternating fashion. The steel construction includes a plurality of main carrier units, wherein each main carrier unit has at least two vertically extending supports and a horizontally extending main carrier which connects the supports. This type of steel construction makes it possible to achieve uniform spacing of the reformer tubes and burners over the entire reformer furnace. This results in advantages in terms of the maximum operating temperature of the reformer tubes, thereby extending their service life.

The present technique presents a structured packing module 100 for a gas phase reactor 2, the structured packing module 100 comprising a structured packing 1 having a central axis 5x extending along a longitudinal direction, and may further comprise an inner tube 5 extending coaxially with the structured packing and along the longitudinal direction. The structured packing 1 includes a plurality of corrugated sheets 10, 20, 30, each arranged circumferentially around the central axis 5x and having a first end 101 and a second end 102 spaced apart from each other along the longitudinal direction. Each corrugated sheet 10, 20, 30 includes corrugations 9 extending between the first end 101 and the second end 102 and disposed at an acute angle A greater than or equal to 5 degree and less than or equal to 30 degree with respect to a line 5y parallel to the central axis 5x. The corrugated sheets 10, 20, 30 are arranged to radially overlap with each other such that the corrugations 9 of adjacently disposed corrugated sheets 10, 20, 30 are arranged in a crisscross relationship. The structured packing module 100 includes a gas flow path 40 comprising at least one inter-sheet gas flow path 42 defined between the adjacently disposed corrugated sheets 10, 20, 30.

A reactor for accommodating high contaminant feedstocks includes a reactor vessel having an inlet for introducing a feedstock containing contaminants into an interior of the reactor vessel. A basket is located within the reactor vessel interior and contains a particulate material for removing contaminants from the feedstock to form a purified feedstock that is discharged to a purified feedstock outlet. A catalyst is located within the reactor vessel and in fluid communication with the purified feedstock outlet of the basket for contacting the purified feedstock to form a desired product.

The disclosure provides a structure that is used in the treatment of a fluid. The packing structure comprises a body having an axis. The packing structure also has at least one curved flow path that rotates around, and extends along at least a portion of, the axis of the body.

A mechanism for securing tubes in a fixed position is described wherein a body to which a tube is to be fixed has at least one smooth bore hole extending therethrough. A tube has an inner diameter accommodating fluid flow and an outer diameter passing through the smooth bore hole in slip fit relation with the smooth bore of the hole. A threaded hole with helical grooves is parallel to the smooth bore hole and located such that its grooves intersect the diameter of the smooth bore hole. A set screw made of a tougher material than the tube has threads that will seat in the threaded hole in a manner such that advancing the set screw scratches the outer diameter of the tube to a depth wherein the set screw retains the tube in place without deformation of the inner diameter of the tube whereby fluid flow in the tube is not affected by advancement of the set screw while the tube is retained in place by the set screw. The invention can connect tubes in all sorts of patterns with many center-to-center tube distances.

Embodiments of false downcomers are described having a lip extending inwardly from a bottom portion of the wall of the false downcomer. The lip has a length sufficient to deflect downward vapor from exiting through the bottom opening.

Method of loading a tubular reactor with a catalyst tube assembly, method of unloading a catalyst tube assembly from a tubular reactor, and catalyst tube assembly for a tubular reactor, such as a steam reformer, comprising an outer reactor tube having an inlet end and an outlet end opposite the inlet end, and including an inwardly protruding element; a centering assembly including an inner tube having an inlet end and an outlet end; a tubular boundary having a closed end and an open end.

A mechanism for securing tubes in a fixed position is described wherein a body to which a tube is to be fixed has at least one smooth bore hole extending therethrough. A tube has an inner diameter accommodating fluid flow and an outer diameter passing through the smooth bore hole in slip fit relation with the smooth bore of the hole. A threaded hole with helical grooves is parallel to the smooth bore hole and located such that its grooves intersect the diameter of the smooth bore hole. A set screw made of a tougher material than the tube has threads that will seat in the threaded hole in a manner such that advancing the set screw scratches the outer diameter of the tube to a depth wherein the set screw retains the tube in place without deformation of the inner diameter of the tube whereby fluid flow in the tube is not affected by advancement of the set screw while the tube is retained in place by the set screw. The invention can connect tubes in all sorts of patterns with many center-to-center tube distances.

A reactor for performing a gas/liquid biphasic high-pressure reaction with a foaming medium, comprising an interior formed by a cylindrical, vertically oriented elongate shell, a bottom and a cap, wherein the interior is divided by internals into a backmixed zone and a zone of limited backmixing, wherein the backmixed zone and the zone of limited backmixing are consecutively traversable by the reaction mixture, wherein the backmixed zone comprises means for introducing gas and liquid and a gas outlet and also comprises at least one mixing apparatus selected from a stirrer, a jet nozzle and means for injecting the gas, and the zone of limited backmixing comprises a reaction product outlet, a first cylindrical internal element which in the interior extends in the longitudinal direction of the reactor and which delimits the zone of limited backmixing from the backmixed zone, backmixing-preventing second internal elements in the form of random packings, structured packings or liquid-permeable trays arranged in the zone of limited backmixing and a riser tube whose lower end is arranged within the backmixed zone and whose upper end opens into the zone of limited backmixing so that liquid from the backmixed zone can ascend into the zone of limited backmixing via the riser tube, wherein flow into the zone of limited backmixing enters from below. The reactor is configured such that the high-pressure reaction space is optimally utilized and contamination of workup steps or subsequent reactions arranged downstream of the high-pressure reaction with foam is substantially avoided. The invention further relates to a process for performing a continuous gas/liquid biphasic high-pressure reaction in the reactor.

A method for producing plasmonic nanomaterials that are catalytically or photocatalytically active by fabricating plasmonic nanostructures on substrates using electrodeposition into a nano-template structure and forming a plurality of nanorods in an array, wherein the nanorods are made from materials chosen from the group consisting of materials that are plasmonic and/or catalytic, and materials that are catalytically activated by depositing pure elemental metals, alloys, or alternating layers of different metals or alloys, and producing catalytic plasmonic nanomaterials. Catalytic plasmonic nanomaterials made from the above method. An optical reactor device that utilizes catalytic nanomaterials for photocatalytic synthesis of methanol or ammonia. A method of photocatalytic synthesis of methanol and ammonia by using catalytic plasmonic nanomaterial to convert CO.sub.2 and H.sub.2 to methanol and N.sub.2 and H.sub.2 to ammonia using optical power. A hybrid plasma-plasmonic reactor for the utilization of CO.sub.2 and CH.sub.4 to produce methanol, ethylene, and acetic acid.