Multiple MicroChannel Array Reactors

A characteristic of this type of reactor is the steel substrate, which is preferably used as the reaction chamber (it can also be titanium or aluminum). This allows the use of microstructures under robust experimental conditions such as high temperatures. 

The reactor system of Zech et al. [35] is a good example of an integrated approach as it combines devices from different suppliers into a complex screening system. The reactor was manufactured at IMM (Fig. 4.4) and the sampling device delivered by AMTEC in Chemnitz. The catalyst preparation method was developed at the TU Chemnitz. The latter consists of an x/y-positioning robot supervised by a CCD camera. The sampling capillary was connected to a quadmpole mass spectrometer. This set-up has been used to screen up to 35 catalysts a day. 

A new approach into reactor modularity has been introduced by Muller et al. [37, 38]. They subdivided the screening process into often used process operations. 

In chemical process engineering these so-called unit-operations are components of every complex plant As catalyst screening contains many different processes, such as heat exchange, flow distribution, sampling, analysis and reaction, such a subdivision in unit operations is justified. An overview of the modules that are part of the screening set-up is given in Fig. 4.6. 

The flexibility of such a system has been demonstrated with two example configurations, one for transient studies and another for steady-state experiments (Fig. 4.7). 

---