Ethanol oxidation in a trickle-bed reactor using a hydrophobic catalyst: Effect of dilution with hydrophilic particles

Abstract

Ethanol oxidation at moderate temperature and atmospheric pressure is carried out in a trickle-bed reactor using a hydrophobic catalyst and pure oxygen as the oxidizing agent. The influence of diluting the hydrophobic catalyst with different proportions of the hydrophilic inert support is particularly studied by performing comparative experiments at different operating conditions. Reactor performance is not significantly modified when the hydrophobic catalyst is diluted with the hydrophilic support in a 50% mass proportion. For a larger dilution, 75% (w/w), significant differences in ethanol conversions are found for certain conditions, presumably due to the influence of the liquid holdup, gas–liquid interfacial areas and wetting efficiency characterizing a bed with a major proportion of hydrophilic particles.