An efficient and innovative catalytic reactor for VOCs emission control

Efficient mixing and thermal control are important in the flow reactor for obtaining a high product yield and selectivity. Here, we report a heterogeneous chemical kinetic study of propene oxidation within a newly designed catalytic jet-stirred reactor (CJSR). To better understand the interplay between the catalytic performances and properties, the CuO thin films have been characterized and the adsorbed energies of propene on the adsorbed and lattice oxygen were calculated using density functional theory (DFT) method. Structure and morphology analyses revealed a monoclinic structure with nano-crystallite size and porous microstructure, which is responsible for holding an important quantity of adsorbed oxygen. The residence time inside the flow CJSR (1.12-7.84 s) makes it suitable for kinetic study and gives guidance for scale-up. The kinetic study revealed that using CJSR the reaction rate increases with O₂ concentration that is commonly not achievable for catalytic flow tube reactor, whereas the reaction rate tends to increase slightly above 30% of O₂ due to the catalyst surface saturation. Moreover, DFT calculations demonstrated that adsorbed oxygen is the most involved oxygen, and it has found that the pathway of producing propene oxide makes the reaction of C₃H₆ over CuO surface more likely to proceed. Accordingly, these findings revealed that CJSR combined with theoretical calculation is suitable for kinetic study, which can pave the way to investigate the kinetic study of other exhaust gases.