Characterisation of mass transfer behaviour in continuous gas/liquid/solid catalysed processes including packed bed for predictive scale up/down

Hydrogenation is a very frequently occurring example of heterogeneously catalysed reaction widely used in the production routes of the High Value Chemical Manufacturing (HVCM) sector and it is currently based on batch processes, despite the potential benefits from the switching to continuous flow. This mainly occurs due to the luck of an established methodology for transferring quickly such processes from batch to continuous flow.
Throughout this research project, the effort to investigate the principles which govern the heterogeneously catalysed hydrogenation led in the development of a new methodology for determining the mass transfer resistances of three-phase reactions in semi-batch Stirred Tank Reactors (STR).
The characterisation of the semi-batch STR was found adequate for predicting the concentration profiles of styrene during its hydrogenation over Pd/C in the Continuous Stirred Tank Reactor (CSTR). On the other hand, due to the different behaviour of mass transfer between the STR and the Trickle Bed Reactor (TBR), the transfer of the styrene hydrogenation from the semi-batch STR to TBR was found more demanding; and consequently, a new methodology for characterising the mass transfer behaviour of the TBR was developed.
The hydrogenation of styrene over Pd/C in the semi-batch STR, CSTR and TBR was simulated by using the mass transfer coefficients approximated by the new methodologies.