Reactor

Claim 1

In a reactor suitable for reacting a metal halide vapor and an oxidizing gas at an elevated temperature to produce the corresponding metal oxide, said reactor comprising an inlet port at one end of said reactor for introducing hot gas thereinto, an outlet port at the opposite end of said reactor for removing reaction products therefrom and a reaction section in said reactor between said inlet port and said outlet port, the improvement comprising the side walls of said reaction section comprising a plurality of crimped annular plates separated by uncrimped annular plates, said crimped and uncrimped annular plates being disposed generally perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of said reaction section, the crimps of said crimped annular plates being generally radially directed with respect to the longitudinal axis of said reaction section, whereby generally radially extending orifices through said reaction section side walls are formed between adjacent crimped annular plates and uncrimped annular plates; said reactor further comprising means for introducing at least one reactant radially inwardly through said orifices into the interior of said reaction section and means surrounding said reaction section walls for facilitating uniform introduction of reactants through said orifices; the openings of said orifices through the radially inner and outer surfaces of said reaction section side walls being distributed in a substantially continuous manner around the circumference of the side walls whereby the introduction of reactant gas through said side walls into the reaction section is effected substantially uniformly around the circumference of the reaction section.