Multi phase catalytic reactions such as hydrogenations, oxidations etc. are frequently encountered in the pharma and fine chemical industries. Multiphase reactor systems generally used in such processes were targeted for improvement in this research. This research project begins by analysing the benefits of process intensification by scaling down of conventional reactor systems. A brief survey on different microreactor technologies were carried out in the first chapter, which was then followed by chapter 2, describing different experimental methods adopted in this research. In the first part of the research, multi phase microreactor in the form of a micro-trick1e bed was designed. The reactor was heated from inside out by coupling it with the phenomenon of non-contact induction heating. Such reactor design was further extended in the second part of the research to create dual isothermal temperature zones inside a single reactor, where two different catalyst beds were placed in a cascade configuration. This led to the realization of a novel catalyst and temperature compartmentalized reactor system. Cascade catalytic reaction of citronellal to menthol was chosen as a model reaction. The high heat transfer rates obtained in the radio-frequency heated micro trickle bed reactor was further exploited in generating periodic temperature oscillations of the catalyst bed and this led to the design of a transient reactor system. It was observed that selectivity toward the semi-hydrogenated product increases around 10 to 12% for periodic temperature oscillation of the reactor bed when compared with the reactor maintained at a steady temperature. Finally the existing design of the micro-trickle bed reactor (MTBR) was scaled-up to a six times scale up factor. The selective hydrogenation of acetylene alcohol was chosen as a model reaction for testing the reactor performance. A conceptual design of a pilot plant, involving such scaled-up MTBRs for a target production of 1 kg/day was also proposed.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:695300 |
| Date | January 2015 |
| Creators | Chatterjee, Sourav |
| Publisher | Queen's University Belfast |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
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