Adsorptive Reactor Architecture: Conceptual foundations for functionality integration

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In multifunctional reactors, chemical reactions and unit operations are integrated into a single piece of piece of equipment, in order to improve performance parameters, such as productivity and selectivity, particularly for equilibrium-limited reactions. Adsorptive reactors represent a promising example of multifunctional reactors incorporating the highly compatible adsorptive and reactive functionalities. The fundamental advantage of adsorptive reactors lies in the application of selective adsorption over a wide temperature range, by which concentration and temperature profiles can be deliberately manipulated leading to considerable enhancement of reaction selectivity and conversion and thus avoiding expensive tail-gas treatment processes. The objective of this research project is twofold: to determine the optimal degree of integration of functionalities in adsorptive reactors at the pellet level and especially at the reactor level and to establish general criteria for the operating conditions and operating modes under which this optimal integration is favorable for adsorptive reactor performance as well as to derive general guidelines for determining a suitable degree of integration. As adsorptive reactors are tailor-made for environmental processes, two environmentally important reactions will be considered as test cases in this project: the Claus reaction for converting the hydrogen sulfide obtained from refining crude raw materials to sulfur and the Deacon reaction for hydrogen chloride oxidation used for the internal recycling of chlorine within chemical plants. The recent availability of novel tools for structured reactor design and of new high performance catalysts has opened up considerable potential for adsorptive reactors in these two processes. Appropriately modified catalysts, adsorbents and reactor concepts will be developed with the help of systematic preliminary process design studies and modelling complemented by experimental validation.