Residence Time Distribution Experiments RTD

The first characteristic that has to be addressed is the plug-flow behavior of the 

Indeed, the fact that there are no dead zones indicates that there will be no accumulation of reactants, which increases the safety of the process by avoiding the development of hot spots. Moreover, a good mixing and the absence of stagnant zones will have a positive impact on yields and selectivity. 

The characterization is performed by means of residence time distribution (RTD) investigation [23]. Typically, holdup is low, and therefore the mean residence time is expected to be relatively short Consequently, it is required to shorten the distance between the pulse injection and the reactor inlet. Besides, it is necessary to use specific experimental techniques with fast time response. Since it is rather difficult, in practice, to perfectly perform a Dirac pulse, a signal deconvolution between inlet and outlet signals is always required. 

According to what has been stated above, good results have been obtained as a result of a spectrophotometric technique that entails a colored tracer. Two measuring probes are set up one at the inlet and the other at the outlet of the device. The acquisition time is set to 0.12 s. The operating protocol adopted during RTD experiments is as follows  

Pressure drop is a key parameter from the energy point of view, and it is important for the choice of the auxiliaries and pumping equipment that will be implemented with these reactors. 

---