| 摘要 |
<p>Spent hydrocarbon conversion catalyst is regenerated in a variable gas flow regeneration apparatus in which catalyst particles are confined in a vertically-elongated movable bed and therein contacted with a hot oxygen-containing gas stream in order to remove, by means of combustion, coke which accumulated on the catalyst particles while they were used in a hydrocarbon conversion zone. The catalyst particles are confined in the bed by means of catalyst retention screens. The catalyst retention screens are configured such that gas flow through the bed varies from a maximum at the top of the bed to a minimum at the bottom of the bed. The variation in gas flow is accomplished by varying the size and/or number of gas flow apertures in one of the retention screens so that the effective cross-sectional area available for gas flow through the screen varies from a maximum at the top of the bed to a minimum at the bottom of the bed. The varying gas flow pattern results in the delivery of oxygen in a manner which more closely matches the oxygen requirement for combustion at each point in the bed, thus increasing the coke burning capacity of the bed. Catalytic reforming is an example of a hydrocarbon conversion process in which the invention may be advantageously employed.</p> |
