A novel micro-reactor that allows mixed, slurry-phase batch experiments to be conducted at temperatures to 445 • C and pressures of 13.8 MPa is reported. The reactor uses a glass insert to isolate the reaction mixture from the catalytically active reactor walls, a vortex mixer to promote gas-liquid-solid mixing and requires only 150 µL of reaction mixture to operate. The rapid heat-up and cool-down (to 445 • C and back to room temperature in under 30 min) afforded by the small size makes this reactor ideal for fast catalyst screening studies. The utility of the reactor is demonstrated through a study of the hydroconversion of diphenylmethane (DPM) at 445 • C and 13.8 MPa and the hydrodeoxygenation of 4-methylphenol (4-MP) at 375 • C and 4.8MPa, both conducted using unsupported MoS 2 catalyst. High-speed video is used to identify 2000 rpm as the optimum mixing speed for the micro-reactor. Conversion data for DPM and 4-MP in the micro-reactor is used to determine rate constants for the reactions and hence quantify MoS 2 catalytic activity and thermal/reactor wall activity. The MoS 2 activity is found to be in good agreement with published stirred batch reactor results using the same catalyst.

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