No abstract

Innovative structured catalyst supports, like solid foams, wire gauzes, and short-channel structures, are considered in methane catalytic combustion. For comparison, classical supports such as packed beds and monoliths are also taken into account. Moreover, two catalysts, displaying “fast” and “slow” kinetics, are examined. The performance efficiency criterion is applied to account for a balance between the process conversion, mass transfer, and flow resistance. Another “technological” approach compares reactor length and the corresponding pressure drop required to reach the desired conversion rate. Results indicate that wire gauze, solid foam, and short-channel structure are highly promising catalyst supports due to their intense heat/mass transfer and moderate flow resistance, particularly for fast catalytic reactions. For slow reactions, monoliths seem to be the best as they exhibit the lowest flow resistance.

Metal foams are considered as promising catalyst carriers due to their high porosity, large specific surface area, and satisfactory thermal and mechanical stability. The study presents heat transfer and pressure drop experiments performed for seven foams of different pore densities made from diverse metals. Mass transfer characteristics are derived using the Chilton–Colburn analogy. It was found that the foams display much more intense heat/mass transfer than a monolith, comparable to packed bed. Next, the foams’ efficiencies have been compared, using 1D reactor modeling, in catalytic reactions displaying either slower (selective catalytic reduction of NOx) or faster kinetics (catalytic methane combustion). For the slow kinetics, the influence of carrier specific surface area at which catalyst can be deposited (i.e., catalyst amount) was decisive to achieve high process conversion and short reactor. For this case, monolith appears as the best choice assuming it’s the lowest pressure drop. For the fast reaction, the mass transfer becomes the limiting parameter, thus solid foams are the best solution.