A. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a fixed-bed shell-and-tube reactor in which a solid particulate material is packed, and its usage.
B. Background Art
A plenty of patent applications as to a process for packing a solid particulate material such as a catalyst into a fixed-bed shell-and-tube reactor have hitherto been filed. For example, the following processes are disclosed in JP-A-3579/1977 and JP-A-30545/1987 respectively: a process which involves inserting line steel from an upper opening of each reaction tube when a catalyst is packed, in a shell-and-tube reactor; and a process which involves flowing air from the bottom of a reaction tube when a pellet catalyst is packed in a shell-and-tube reactor. Furthermore, a process, which concerns a packing apparatus as used when a catalyst is packed in a shell-and-tube reactor, is disclosed in JP-A-67325/1980 and JP-A-21928/1982.
According to the above-mentioned conventional processes, the breakage and pulverization of the catalyst, which is caused when the catalyst is packed, is suppressed. Therefore, the desired catalyst-packing result can sufficiently be obtained. However, the improvement is further expected in order to stably produce an aimed product for a long period.