Solving exothermic reaction heat removal with calculated coil design
📍 Customer: Shale oil refining company, Southeast Asia
The customer was processing shale oil through catalytic hydrogenation. The reaction is highly exothermic — it generates heat faster than a standard jacketed reactor can remove it. Their previous setup used a single-layer jacket, and they were seeing temperature spikes during the reaction peak. Risk of thermal runaway was real.
We designed a 6-layer internal cooling coil arrangement. Each layer was spaced to maximize heat transfer surface area while maintaining proper flow distribution. We calculated the required heat removal capacity based on their reaction kinetics data, then sized the coil layout accordingly.
The agitator was also customized — a hydrogenation-specific impeller that promotes gas-liquid mass transfer while keeping the cooling coils clear of dead zones.
| Parameter | Specification |
|---|---|
| Volume | 5,000L production-scale reactor |
| Material | 316L stainless steel |
| Design pressure | 3.5 MPa |
| — | 6-layer internal cooling coil arrangement |
| — | Custom hydrogenation impeller |
| — | Magnetic coupling seal rated for hydrogen service |
| Metric | Outcome |
|---|---|
| Operational Status | Running successfully, Temperature control stable throughout reaction peak |
| Customer Satisfaction | Reported no unplanned downtime related to this system |
| Warranty | 12 months from commissioning |
Temperature control stable throughout reaction peak. Batch cycle time reduced by ~15%. No thermal runaway incidents in 18+ months of operation.