3D‐Printed Acidic Monolithic Catalysts for Liquid‐Phase Catalysis with Enhanced Mass Transfer Properties

Abstract

The thriving research and development in additive manufacturing and especially 3D printing in chemical engineering and heterogeneous catalysis enables novel and innovative approaches for the shaping of catalysts. In this work, tailor-made monoliths with complex transport pore channels are designed and printed by fused deposition modelling (FDM) from polystyrene filament. Subsequently, sulfonic acid groups are introduced by sulfonation for a catalytic functionalization of the structured monoliths' accessible inner surface. As a catalytic test reaction, the aqueous phase hydrolysis of sucrose was chosen. For this reaction the functionalized monoliths exhibited a superior catalytic performance in both batch and continuous reaction mode in comparison to a macroporous sulfonic acidfunctionalized ion exchange resin as commercial benchmark catalyst. This is due to the higher accessibility of the sulfonic acid groups on the surface of the monoliths' pore channels and hence, enhanced effective reaction kinetics by decreased mass transfer limitations.

A 3D Printer in the Lab: Not Only a Toy

“…[ 95–100 ] 3D printers, in this case, can be used not only to make (flow)reactors, mixers, [ 101,102 ] multi‐material parts, [ 103 ] and so on, but also to embed catalysts directly in the 3D printed material. [ 104–107 ]…”

“…[95][96][97][98][99][100] 3D printers, in this case, can be used not only to make (flow)reactors, mixers, [101,102] multi-material parts, [103] and so on, but also to embed catalysts directly in the 3D printed material. [104][105][106][107] FDM 3D printing has also been used in optics to make diffuse optics [96,97] and optic faceplates. [108] Our group has also incorporated dichroic nanoparticles in a plastic filament for printing, for the first time, a dichroic object, in this case with an optical effect like the Lycurgus cup (Figure 4c).…”

A 3D Printer in the lab: not only a toy

“…[94][95][96][97][98][99] 3D printers, in this case, can be used not only to make (flow)reactors, mixers,[100,101] multimaterial parts, [102] and so on, but also to embed catalysts directly in the 3D printed material. [103][104][105][106] Fig. 4.…”

A 3D Printer in the lab: not only a toy

“…[85][86][87][88][89][90] 3D printers, in this case, can be used not only to make (flow)reactors, mixers,[91,92] multimaterial parts, [93] and so on, but also to embed catalysts directly in the 3D printed material. [94][95][96][97] FDM 3D printing has also been used in optics to make diffuse optics [96,97] and optic faceplates [98]. Our group has also incorporated dichroic nanoparticles in a plastic filament for printing, for the first time, a dichroic object, in this case with an optical effect like the Lycurgus cup (Figure 4c).…”