Three Phase Catalytic Hydrogenation in Falling Film Microreactor

This study is dedicated to experimental study and modeling of the Falling Film Microreactor Large (FFMR-Large) which has been developed by the Institut für Mikrotechnik in Mainz (IMM). FFMR-Large was tested by performing catalytic hydrogenation of nitrobenzene on Pd/Al2O3 wall coated catalyst to give information about overall reactor performance. The effect of different operation conditions as pressure and liquid feed rate was studied. The reactor performance is compared with results of reactor mathematical model, and results of nitrobenzene hydrogenation in FFMR-Standard published in literature. Reactor modeling is focused on three possible operating regimes with different rate limiting step: 1. chemical reaction is rate limiting, 2. hydrogen diffusion in liquid film is rate limiting and 3. competitive hydrogen diffusion and chemical reaction control