Radial-Flow Reactor Packed with a Catalytic Cloth:  Nitrate Reduction in Hydrogen-Saturated Water

• Published in: Industrial & engineering chemistry research Vol. 44; no. 25; pp. 9575 - 9580
• Main Author: Matatov-Meytal, Uri I
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC American Chemical Society 07.12.2005
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Catalysis; Catalytic reactions; Chemical engineering; Chemistry; Exact sciences and technology; General and physical chemistry; Reactors; Theory of reactions, general kinetics. Catalysis. Nomenclature, chemical documentation, computer chemistry; Reactor; Radial flow; Catalytic reaction
• ISSN: 0888-5885; 1520-5045
• DOI: 10.1021/ie050260v

A novel flow reactor packed with a fibrous catalytic cloth is proposed to carry out a gas−liquid reaction. Radial flow and separation of the transport of the gaseous reactant and the reaction are the main features of the new design. An activated carbon cloth supported 2 wt % Pd−0.6 wt % Cu bimetallic catalyst installed in the reactor was applied for the water-phase nitrate hydrogenation, showing selectivity up to 84% toward nitrogen at a nitrate conversion of up to 93%. The reactor performance has been evaluated using the diagnostic criteria associated with varying the hydrogen pressure, liquid flow rate, and catalyst loading in the reactor; it was described by a simplistic model, assuming one-dimensional, plug-flow, and steady-state operation. The significance of mass-transfer effects on the reactor performance has been analyzed. The results obtained indicate that the reactor investigated has a high potential for further development and scale-up.