Temporal Analysis of Products (TAP): A Unique Catalyst Evaluation System with Sub-Millisecond Time Resolution

Abstract

A new real-time/in-situ technique called TAP (Temporal Analysis of Products) used for investigation of gas-solid interactions is presented along with examples of its application to a variety of catalyst problems. Key features of TAP include: i) The reactor configuration is a micro-scale fixed bed that accepts a bulk form of the catalyst, 11) The reactants are introduced to the reactor using a pulse input so that the transient response of the catalyst is observed, ill) The time-scale of the experiment is minimally 10 microseconds so that the potential of observing reaction intermediates is increased when compared to previous methods, iv) The reaction products are sensed by mass spectroscopy for positive identification, v) The catalyst-bed temperature can be either isothermal or programmed for adsorption or desorption studies, vi) The number of molecules introduced to th catalyst bed can be varied over a wide range, and vii) Two separate gas pulses can be introduced to the reactor through independently controlled input pulse valves. Key applications of TAP include the determination of adsorption-desorption energies of activation, identification of reaction intermediates, and the deducement of reaction mechanisms and reaction networks. TAP is a general technique and can be applied to the study of most gas/solid reaction systems including selective oxidation reactions, hydrodesulfurization, and zeolite catalysis.KeywordsMass SpectroscopyReaction MechanismReaction SystemOxygen ActivationReaction IntermediateThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.