Heat transfer characteristics in tert-butanol dehydration reaction used for heat transport

The reaction system of tert-butanol/isobutene/water was considered for use in chemical heat transport. In this study, the heat transfer characteristics in an endothermic tert-butanol dehydration reaction which occurred in the heat supply side of this reaction system was investigated. The heat flow was obtained by measuring the reactant composition change and temperature change in the catalyst bed. The heat flow consists of reaction heat, the latent heat of isobutene, and sensible heat in this reaction system. Numerical calculations based on a two-dimensional model were carried out and the results showed good agreement with experimental ones. It was noticed that the heat flow with chemical reaction was much higher than without reaction. These results indicated that the dehydration reaction promoted the heat transfer rate, because of the increase in temperature difference between the heating medium and the wall by making use of chemical reaction for heat transport. The apparent local heat transfer coefficient with chemical reaction was higher than without reaction. The possibility of a high efficiency heat transport which used this reaction system was suggested.