Applying spatially resolved concentration and temperature measurements in a catalytic plate reactor for the kinetic study of CO methanation

• Published in: Journal of catalysis 2010-05, Vol.271 (2), p.262-279
• Main Authors: Kopyscinski, Jan, Schildhauer, Tilman J., Vogel, Frédéric, Biollaz, Serge M.A., Wokaun, Alexander
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Catalysis; Catalytic plate reactor; Chemistry; Exact sciences and technology; General and physical chemistry; Kinetics; Methanation; Spatially resolved measurements; Theory of reactions, general kinetics. Catalysis. Nomenclature, chemical documentation, computer chemistry; Water gas shift reaction
• ISSN: 0021-9517; 1090-2694
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jcat.2010.02.008

Spatially resolved gas concentration and catalyst temperature measurements in an optically accessible catalytic plate reactor allowed determining the kinetics of the exothermic CO methanation reaction with high initial CO partial pressure. In this work, the successful application of spatially resolved measurements in an optically accessible catalytic plate reactor was demonstrated, which allows the detailed investigation of the reaction kinetics of the exothermic CO methanation reaction with high initial CO partial pressure. By means of a movable sampling capillary, the axial gas species concentration profiles over the catalyst plate were measured, and the catalyst surface temperature was determined simultaneously along the reactor through a quartz glass window by means of infrared thermography. A one-dimensional model of the catalytic plate reactor and a Bayesian approach were applied to estimate the kinetic model parameters of the proposed Langmuir–Hinshelwood rate expressions by comparing simulated and measured gas concentration profiles. The validity of using a computationally efficient one-dimensional model was proven by solving a two-dimensional model using the kinetic parameters determined with the one-dimensional model and by comparing the two results.