Experimental search for a simple rate equation to describe deactivating porous catalyst particles

Abstract

This paper concerns the experimental determination of the orders of reaction and deactivation in the nth order rate equation which represents the four broad classes of deactivation of catalyst particles: parallel, series, side-by-side, and independent. We discuss the various reactor types which may be used, both batch-solids and flowing solids. For batch-solids systems we show that when deactivation is concentration independent then using a batch of fluid or any flow of fluid gives results which are simple to interpret. However, when deactivation is concentration dependent then only one very particular form of contacting is recommended in that it alone allows decoupling of concentration and activity effects, and their study one at a time.In essence we show how the methods for nth order homogeneous reactions can be extended in a simple way to catalytic systems with deactivating porous solids.