Catalyst Performance

Catalyst performance is well related to the reactor, especially for highly exothermic or endothermic reactions. In lab scale, small amount of catalyst, as in milligram range, is put into a quartz tube to examine the catalyst performance, like conversion, selectivity, yield, and etc. Since the amount of the catalyst is so small, associated heat of the reaction is not significant in a lab scale tubular reactor. However, in commercial applications, the catalyst size and reactor size could be much bigger than the lab scale reactor, causing the issue called reactor amplification effect during scale up. Therefore the local mass transfer and heat transfer have to be taken into account for scale up. It is necessary to examine the catalyst performance in commercial type reactors for further scale up or commercialization.

Catalyst Evaluation

CompRex offers the solution to evaluate the catalyst performance in commercial type reactors with maximized performance. CompRex’s compact heat exchanger reactor contains channel sizes the same as commercial reactor, therefore the mass and heat transfer can be kept the same as the lab scale reactor. More importantly, combining the reactor with the heat exchanger feature allows it to maintain the temperature near isothermal conditions, resulting in the performance close to its kinetic condition, as in lab scale.

Moreover, CompRex’s reactor can have the feature for multiple injections along with reaction path, allowing the introduction of reactants into the main reaction stream for better reaction control to get high selectivity and yield for desired products.

Benefits

The benefits from CompRex’s compact heat exchanger reactor include, but are not limited to;

  • High temperature/high pressure reactions

  • Channel size same as commercial scale reactor to keep the same mass and heat transfer

  • Almost uniform temperature distribution from high heat transfer capability

  • Heat exchanger reactor suitable for highly exothermic or endothermic reactions

  • Intermittent injection as needed within the reactor block

  • Multiple intermittent reactant injection at different locations as needed

  • Tight temperature control

  • Small catalyst particles for high selectivity and productivity

  • Compact design with smaller footprint and auxiliary equipment