Home – Home – Jornals – Chemistry for Sustainable Development 2003 number 1

Structured catalytic reactors have a large potential in Process Intensification. In many respects they outperform conventional reactors such as packed-bed and slurry reactors, both for gas and for gas – liquid systems. The most important structured reactors are based on gauzes, foams, and monoliths. In general, monoliths are the most satisfactory structured reactors. In gas-phase applications they are often preferred due to their favourable properties with respect to selectivity, pressure drop, and robustness. Their millisecond characteristics have potential in syngas production and selective conversions into valuable products. In gas-liquid applications they exhibit high rates, high selectivity (for serial kinetics), and they operate close to pluγ-flow behaviour. They are compact reactors with excellent performance in activity and selectivity. They allow co- as well as counter-current operation at common industrial conditions and can be used in multifunctional reactors, e. g. catalytic distillation. The use of a structured reactor allows the decoupling of intrinsic reaction kinetics, transport phenomena, and hydrodynamics. In this way these processes in a catalytic reactor can be optimised independently, giving rise to an excellent reactor performance. Structured catalysts and reactors will play a major role in Process Intensification.