Compact multichannel reactor for liquid phase oxidation of organic feedstocks

The design of a multichannel packed bed catalytic reactor to produce chems. for the pharmaceutical and specialty chems. industries is described. This has an integrated heat exchange function, gas/liq. mixing zone, and a reactant injection system. Results are presented for the oxidn. (using gaseous oxygen) of benzyl alc. to benzaldehyde (using toluene as a solvent) over a Ru/Al2O3 catalyst. This system was chosen as a model chem. reaction to study the concept of an integrated multichannel reactor. Results from the catalytic oxidn. expts. showed that the multichannel reactor is suitable for such three-phase catalytic reactions. Conversions up to 25% per 10 cm bed length were measured, giving TOF = 800 h-1, which is close to that reported in the literature for the same catalyst. By controlling the point of injection of oxygen into the reactor an increase in the yield of benzaldehyde formation was achieved. Due to efficient heat transfer the reactor behaved isothermally, despite a 35 Deg adiabatic temp. rise. [on SciFinder (R)]