Rapidly Screen Laboratory-Prepared Catalysts

To rapidly screen laboratory-prepared catalysts, Frontier Labs developed the benchtop analytical Tandem Micro-Reactor. The reactor consists of two reactors connected in series. The upper reactor (1st Reactor) preheats a gas, vaporizes a liquid, or thermally decomposes organic solids to generate gases. The catalyst reaction tube is packed with a catalyst and placed in the lower reactor (2nd Reactor). 

Frontier Tandem Micro-Reactor is interfaced with a gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy (GC/MS) system, allowing real-time monitoring of the chemical species generated by vapor phase contact reaction with a catalyst. 

In addition to real-time monitoring, the Tandem Micro-Reactor can be used in three different modes. These modes differ in how the reactor temperature is controlled. The isothermal mode has a “Post Heat” function to thermally desorb reaction products in the micro-pores of various types of catalysts. The furnace temperature can also be programmed in linear or stepwise progression, up to 8 steps.

To show the reactor’s capability, you can see the catalytic conversion of ethanol to ethylene: Catalytic reaction products were monitored as the reaction temperature was raised at a constant rate. The amount of ethanol sharply dropped when the temperature reached 280C, while the amount of diethyl ether increased. Also, the formation of ethylene and water is observed.

Based on the online-MS analysis results, the volatiles released from each temperature zone was introduced to a separation column and analyzed. As the reactor temperature was raised, ethylene and water were formed while the amount of ethanol formed dramatically decreased.

These are the plots of the peak areas obtained from the chromatogram as the reactor temperature increases. It clearly shows how the function of the ZSM-5 catalyst varies with the temperature of the reactor.

References:

This technical content was developed by Frontier Laboratories Ltd. 4-16-20 Saikon, Koriyama, Fukushima, 963-8862 JAPAN. www.frontier-lab.com