Fast Temperature Cycling of Catalytic Reactions using Microreactors

摘要

First theoretical studies discussing forced temperature variations to increase the performance of heterogeneous catalytic reactors appeared in the late 1960th. Experimental studies realized in the late 1970th failed to confirm the predicted effects. This can be explained by the high thermal inertia of the experimental devices used, allowing only slow temperature changes and therefore leading to cycling periods in the order of an hour. The appearance of microreactors (an example is illustrated in Fig. 1) in the last decade roviding a lower thermal inertia, thus allowing temperature changes of several tens of degrees within seconds, has woke up the interest toward this field of research.