Chemical Engineering Journal, Vol.316, 121-130, 2017
Kinetics and mass transfer of the hydrogenation of 2-methyl-3-butyn-2-ol in a structured Pd/ZnO/Al2O3 reactor
This work presents a study of the hydrogenation of 2-methyl-3-butyn-2-ol in flow over a structured catalyst. A porous tubular metal structure is coated with a layer of ZnO/Al2O3 and impregnated with palladium. This reactor is operated with recirculation of the process liquid and continuous supply of hydrogen with co-current upward flow. A Langmuir-Hinshelwood mechanism based on noncompetitive adsorption of hydrogen and organics is used to model the experimental results. The kinetic and adsorption parameters governing the process are estimated in the kinetic regime by means of a numerical optimization procedure. The extension of the model to the mass transfer limited regime, at lower hydrogen flowrates, allows the estimation of an overall mass transfer coefficient K-ov. The reaction appears to be strongly dependent on the hydrogen flowrate with estimated K-ov lower than 0.25 s(-1) in the range of flowrates 0.1-0.5 nL min(-1). The mathematical model, successfully validated, is able to accurately predict the concentration profiles of the species involved in the system at varying temperatures, in both kinetic and mass transfer limited regimes.(C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.