Catalytic Hydrogenation of Aromatic Nitro Compound in a Micro-Reactor

摘要

In this work a three phase solid catalyzed hydrogenation reaction of aromatic nitro compound was studied in a microreactor as a model pharmaceutical reaction. In the pharmaceutical industry, hydrogenation reactions constitute about 15-20% of the reactions and are generally carried out in batch reactors. Hydrogenation of nitro compounds falls under the class of reactions with fast kinetics on noble-metals, and is usually limited by external mass transfer in batch reactors. Besides, these reactions are highly exothermic in nature which necessitates effective heat removal. Ineffective mass transfer and nonuniform temperature distribution in the batch reactor can have deleterious effects on reactor performance including the formation of undesired side products. The use of microreactor for such reactions provides improved mass and heat transfer rates which may ensure that the reaction is close to intrinsic kinetics.