Gas consumption characteristics determined by gas-liquid two-phase flow coupled with catalytic reaction in a gas-liquid-solid microreactor

Abstract

In this work, the gas consumption characteristics were investigated by gas-liquid two-phase flow in a capillary microreactor using the catalytic hydrogenation of nitrobenzene as a reference gas-liquid reaction. Image processing technique was used to measure the gas consumption from the variation in the gas phase through the recorded images. The influence of the inlet nitrobenzene concentration and both the gas and liquid flow rates on the gas consumption and the microreactor performance was investigated. The experimental results showed that there existed a discrete hydrogen consumption process, i.e. the waiting stage and inburst stage. Hydrogen consumption was mainly attributed to the waiting stage in each bubble formation cycle. Minimal hydrogen was consumed in the inburst stage. In addition, there was a clear difference between the H2 consumption rates under each operating condition. As the gas flow rate and nitrobenzene concentration increased, the H2 consumption rate was gradually decreased with each successive formation cycle. Although the consumption rate was gradually reduced with each successive formation cycle with increasing liquid flow rate, the downward trend became increasingly gradual and clearly stabilized at 20 μL/min. The microreactor performances under different operating conditions were also investigated. The results showed that the nitrobenzene conversion was first increased and then gradually decreased with increasing the gas flow rate, whereas it was gradually decreased with increasing both the liquid flow rate and nitrobenzene concentration. The results obtained in this work are beneficial for not only understanding process intensification but also promoting the use of microreactor technology in additional industrial applications.