Enhanced Mass Transfer and Improved Catalyst Recovery in a Stirred Reactor by Polymeric Ionic Liquids Modified 3D Printed Devices

Abstract

AbstractMass transfer and catalyst recovery are both influential factors in heterogeneous catalytic processes, which significantly affect the reaction efficiency. Therefore, design and fabrication of reactors and catalysts with reasonable structure and property are central issues in heterogeneous reactions. Herein, agitating impeller (AI) with prismatic structure and catalytic property is conveniently constructed via the combination of 3D printing technology and polymeric ionic liquids (PILs). The further modification of the PILs on impellers endowed them with the ability of ion exchange, which helped to load Pd nanoparticles on the surface as catalysts for reduction, Suzuki coupling, and dye decolorization reactions. Prisms on the impellers significantly enhance the catalytic efficiency of these reactions through improving the mass transfer. The yield reaches nearly 100%. Catalytic impellers could be easily separated from the reactor and without a visible leak of Pd catalysts so that they could repeatedly be used more than ten times with high performance. The numerical simulation and experimental characterizations are both used to explore the mechanism of the mass transfer and the activity of the catalytic surface, which give a full understanding of the benefits of 3D printing and PILs in heterogeneous reactions.