Parallel-screening equipment for advanced catalyst testing and process intensification

在过去二十年中，催化剂的制造商和最终用户已经跟随制药工业的领导，并在其开发方案中越来越多地转向高通量方法。这种转变通常没有被学术研究实验室反映出来，在那里，一次测试仍然盛行（特别是在英国），通常作为催化剂制备、表征和评估的迭代循环的一部分。然而，随着固体材料配方和表征的快速和高通量技术的可用性，学术实验室中催化剂发现的速度现在通常由性能测试的速度决定。在这个采购、调试和运行多床催化剂筛选反应器的项目中，我们将解决英国多相催化学术界缺失的这一环节。这个新设施将位于卡迪夫催化研究所（CCI）内，将使CCI及其广泛的学术和工业合作者网络能够提高他们在催化剂发现和催化过程优化关键领域的生产力。由于CCI是英国催化中心的主要参与者，该设施实际上将对几乎所有活跃于多相催化的英国学术团体开放。最初的目标是那些CCI和英国催化中心的其他成员已经开始建立能力的催化过程：(i)使用柴油、汽油、混合燃料或替代燃料的车辆的废气后处理和废热回收。㈡通过选择性氧化，特别是甲醇和二甲醚，提高各种甲烷来源（如页岩气、生物气和搁浅天然气）的质量。将生物质衍生物转化为精细化学品和燃料。（iv）利用温室气体（如CO2和N2O）作为软氧化剂，将烷烃氧化脱氢成单体和化学中间体。在净化原料流时优先氧化以特定清除污染物。（vi） CO或CO2加氢生成碳氢化合物或氧合物。随着这些过程所需的原料和操作条件的多样性，催化剂筛选设备将在活动模式下使用，这将最大化与停机时间相关的测试时间比例-当进料将被改变，分析设备将重新校准，新的测试协议定义和基准测试执行。设备的操作和维修将由项目经理监督，项目经理将是管理委员会的一部分，负责优先考虑和分配使用设施的机会。

Over the past two decades, manufacturers and end-users of catalysts have followed the lead of the pharmaceutical industry and moved increasingly to high-throughput methodologies in their development programmes. This transition has not generally been mirrored by academic research laboratories, where one-at-a-time testing still prevails (particularly in the UK), usually as part of an iterative cycle of catalyst preparation, characterisation and evaluation. However, with the availability of rapid and high-throughput techniques for the formulation and characterisation of solid materials, the rate of catalyst discovery in academic laboratories is now often determined by the rate of performance testing. In this project to procure, commission and operate a multi-bed catalyst screening reactor, we will address this missing link within the academic heterogeneous catalysis community in the UK.This new facility, which will be housed within the Cardiff Catalysis Institute (CCI), will enable the CCI and its wide network of academic and industrial collaborators to increase their productivity in the key areas of catalyst discovery and catalytic process optimisation. As the CCI is a major player within the UK Catalysis Hub, the facility will in effect be accessible to almost every UK academic group that is active in heterogeneous catalysis.The catalytic processes that will initially be targeted are those in which the CCI and the other members of the UK Catalysis Hub have already started to build capability:(i) Exhaust-gas aftertreatment and waste-heat recovery for vehicles running on diesel, petrol, blended or alternative fuels.(ii) Upgrading of variable sources of methane (such as shale gas, biogas and stranded natural gas) through selective oxidation, particularly to methanol and dimethyl ether.(iii) Transformation of biomass derivatives to fine chemicals and fuels.(iv) Oxidative dehydrogenation of alkanes to monomers and chemical intermediates by using greenhouse gases (such as CO2 and N2O) as soft oxidants.(v) Preferential oxidation for the specific removal of contaminants in the clean-up of feedstreams.(vi) Hydrogenation of CO or CO2 to hydrocarbons or oxygenates.With the diversity of feedstocks and operating conditions that these processes require, the catalyst screening equipment will be used in a campaign mode that will maximise the proportion of testing time in relation to downtime - when feeds will be changed, analytical equipment re-calibrated, new test protocols defined and benchmark tests carried out. The operation and servicing of the equipment will be overseen by a Project Manager, who will be part of a Management Board with responsibility for prioritising and allocating access to the facility.