TS-1 coated microreactor for selective oxidations

• Published in: Applied catalysis. A, General General, 2015-01, Vol.490, p.139-145
• Main Authors: Truter, L.A., Perez Ferrandez, D.M., Schouten, J.C., Nijhuis, T.A.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Coating; Dissolution; Insertion; Microreactor; Microreactors; Nucleation; Propylene oxide; Silicon dioxide; Titanium; Zeolite; Zeolites
• ISSN: 0926-860X; 1873-3875
• DOI: 10.1016/j.apcata.2014.11.019

•Describes a method for the incorporation of a TS-1 coating in a microreactor.•Transformation of a silica precoating to form a TS-1 coating.•The TS-1 coating has a high surface area, titanium loading with good stability.•Catalytically active in the epoxidation of propene. A TS-1 catalyst layer has been coated inside a capillary microreactor by the transformation of a porous silica precoating using an in-situ hydrothermal synthesis method. The use of the silica precoating to favour TS-1 nucleation and growth on the microchannel surface has shown to provide a final TS-1 coating of high surface area and titanium loading with good stability. The ability to transform the silica precoating to a TS-1 coating was achieved by correctly balancing the silica precoating dissolution, zeolite nucleation and growth rates, and insertion of titanium into the zeolite framework. The 4μm TS-1 coating, consisting of TS-1 crystals of approximately 800nm in size, was applied in the epoxidation of propene as a model reaction to demonstrate its catalytic activity. The TS-1 microreactor obtained a propylene oxide productivity of 2gPO/gcath with a propylene oxide selectivity above 90%. Long-term stability tests of the TS-1 microreactor showed that the TS-1 coating is very stable with only a small deactivation noted over a 500h time-on-stream period.