Abstract

Continuous Flow Hydrogenations for the Chemical Manufacturing Industry

Christian Hornung, Director of FloWorks, CSIRO

Our group at CSIRO has developed a new structured catalyst reactor system, termed Catalytic Static Mixers or CSMs, which is based on 3D printed metal scaffolds coated with a noble metal catalyst such as Pt, Pd, Ni, Ru or others. These tubular reactors are used in continuous flow hydrogenations for the chemical manufacturing industry as well as for hydrogen reforming on demand. With the help of computational fluid dynamics, the structure of the mixer lattice can be optimised for a range of different outputs, such as minimised pressure drop, maximised heat transfer or optimised mixing. CSMs can be classified as a hierarchical catalyst system, whereby different length scales are addressed by different preparation methods; cm-, mm- and µm-scale features are formed by the 3D printing process and classical engineering design while certain µm- and nm-scale features are created during the catalyst preparation and deposition procedures. This results in a highly efficient and versatile catalyst platform which can be used in a broad range of different applications including homogeneous liquid phase, emulsion, liquid-gas and gas phase processes.