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| Sulphuric Acid on the WebTM | Technology Manual | DKL Engineering, Inc. |
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Knowledge for
the Sulphuric Acid Industry Introduction
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During the second World War, Dr. Haldor Topsøe and Dr. Anders Nielsen developed an extruded vanadium pentoxide catalyst for use in Danish and Swedish sulphuric acid plants because they were not able to obtain new catalyst from their usual suppliers. The catalyst operated successfully even though it was crudely manufactured.
Based on their research, it was revealed that the active ingredients of the vanadium pentoxide catalyst exists as melt within the pores of the porous silica carrier. Dr. Topsøe and Dr. Nielsen also discovered that different alkali-metal promoters such as rubidium and caesium instead of potassium increased the activity of the catalyst. Unfortunately, it wasn’t until 1988 that the first caesium-promoted catalyst was introduced by Haldor Topsøe A/S. In 1976, Haldor Topsøe A/S introduced the first ring shaped extrudates. The ring shaped catalyst provides several advantages over the traditional cylindrical catalyst. The ring shape exposes more catalyst surface area to the process gas per catalyst volume than the cylindrical shaped. Pressure drop across the catalyst bed is also reduced due to a higher void volume for the ring shape. Further development in catalyst shapes occurred in 1984 when Haldor Topsøe A/S introduced the daisy shaped catalyst. The daisy shape provides further enhancement of the ring shaped by creating ribs on the outside surface of the ring. Pressure drops across daisy shaped catalyst are further reduced compared to equivalent beds of ring shaped catalysts. A major advancement in sulphuric acid catalyst occurred in 1988 with the introduction of cesium-promoted catalyst. The physical properties of the catalyst are provided in the following table and a brief description of each catalyst is given below.
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2006, 2007, 2008 DKL
Engineering, Inc., All Rights Reserved |
