A porous structured reactor for hydrogenation reactions

Abstract A novel combination of catalyst carrier and reactor design was developed for intensified production of vitamin intermediates. The so called Design Porous Structured Reactor ( DPSR ) is a laser sintered porous 3D-structure that can be tailored to the desired reaction properties such as fluid conditions or heat removal and can also act simultaneously as catalyst support. The selective hydrogenation of 2-methyl-3-butyn-2-ol ( MBY ) to 2-methyl-3-buten-2-ol ( MBE ) under solvent-free conditions was chosen as the reaction to evaluate the potential of DPSR s in comparison to conventional batch reactors. DPSR experiments were performed at varying temperatures and liquid flow rates. DPSR s exceeded batch performance in terms of selectivity, yield and turnover frequency in the analyzed process parameter range. However, DPSR s showed some mass transfer effects. Selectivities and yields increased with higher liquid flow rate due to reduced system pressures and sharper residence time distributions. Overall mass transfer coefficients for DPSR s were determined based on an isothermal non-ideal plug flow model applying heterogeneous Langmuir–Hinshelwood kinetics to account for the chemical conversion. The model showed sufficient accuracy to describe the occurring mass transfer processes. DPSR s were found to be viable alternative for batch reactors, demonstrating the potential for process intensification with an inherent potential for further improvement.